Serena Williams Dominates Daniilidou; Mauresmo Wins

Serena Williams beat eighth-seeded Eleni Daniilidou, 6-2, 6-0, in 46 minutes Saturday to advance to the final of the Gaz de France Open at Paris.

Williams broke serve five times and lost only six points on her serve to advance to the tournament final for the third time.

She sealed the victory by coming in behind a serve and hitting a forehand winner.

“I was real comfortable out on court today,” Williams said. “And I served real well, as I have all week here.”

Williams, who has won all 10 of her matches this season, including the Australian Open title, will face third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, who beat Elena Dementieva, 6-0, 6-0, in the other semifinal.

Mauresmo, the 2001 champion, reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year.

Williams won her first career title here in 1999, and lost to France’s Nathalie Tauziat in the 2000 final when she was slowed by a knee injury.

“At least I always get to the final here,” Williams said. “And when I won in 1999, I went on to win the U.S. Open. Maybe I can do that again.”

Mauresmo saved the only two breakpoints she faced and defeated Dementieva in 42 minutes.

“It was an almost perfect match,” she said. “Everything worked.”

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Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn won her first WTA title, beating Iroda Tulyaganova, 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the Indian Open at Hyderabad.

Tamarine, seeded second and ranked No. 31, broke Tulyaganova’s serve in the eighth and 10th game of the first set.

All but three games went against serve in the second set, but Tamarine held serve in the third and ninth games. Tulyaganova managed to stave off six break points in the fourth game to hold serve after being treated for a sore ankle.