Serena too much for Wozniacki, reaches U.S. Open final

Flushing Meadows, NY – Serena Williams dominated top-seeded set victory Saturday to get back to the U.S. Open final.

The American star, who is a three-time winner in Flushing Meadows, will face Australian Samantha Stosur in Sunday's championship match. Stosur beat Angelique Kerber in three sets in Saturday's first women's semifinal.

Williams was seeded 28th in this year's tournament, mostly because she missed an extended amount of time with injuries. They forced her to sit out last year's event and the first two majors of this season.

But Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam titlist, has still been the class of the women's field at the U.S. Open. She is the only player not to drop a set in the tournament, continuing that trend Saturday with a 6-2, 6-4 decision against Wozniacki.

It was never a close match. Williams fired 11 aces and had her Danish opponent chasing down shots, without much success. Wozniacki had a glimmer of hope during the second set, when she broke Williams to get within 5-4, bringing to mind her comeback victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.

But Williams broke Wozniacki right back, gaining a 40-15 advantage before Wozniacki hit a return into the net.

Wozniacki, the 2009 U.S. Open runner-up, has not beaten Williams in three tries. They hadn't played since 2009, but Williams still had dominant form.

She is back into the U.S. Open final for the first time since 2008, when she topped Jelena Jankovic for the crown.

Williams' opponent in Sunday afternoon's title match will be the ninth-seeded Stosur, who has won two of the six matches between them. Williams beat Stosur in their last encounter, in the Toronto final last month.

Stosur advanced to the final despite dropping the second set against Kerber. But she raced out to a 5-0 lead in the third before finishing the 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory with an emphatic slam from near the net.

Prior to this year, Stosur had never gone past the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. But the hard-serving Aussie drilled 30 winners (against 27 unforced errors) and converted 4-of-4 break point chances to get another shot at a Grand Slam title.

She was the runner-up to Francesca Schiavone at last year's French Open, her only other Grand Slam final appearance.

Kerber, ranked 92nd in the world, was appearing in her first career Grand Slam semifinal. The 23-year-old German had 12 break point chances but converted only three. She had upended 26th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta on Thursday.