Venus sweeps past Bartoli to reach Miami final

Miami: Venus Williams swept past France’s Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to reach the final of the Sony Ericsson Open, recording a 14th successive win on her current hot-streak.

In Saturday’s final, the third-seeded American will tackle either Justine Henin or Kim Clijsters, two of her traditional career rivals. Williams came into this tournament having captured back-to-back titles in Dubai and Acapulco in February and is attempting to win a fourth Miami title to add to her wins in 1998, 1999 and 2001. Bartoli slipped to a 4-2 deficit in the opening set on the back of three successive double faults and was down 3-1 in the second before the French girl temporarily stopped the rot, breaking back to 3-2. Bartoli saved a break point to lead 4-3, but Williams wasn’t to be denied and romped away with the next three games. Bureau Report