Venus Williams cruised into the WTA Elite Trophy final after thrashing Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-2 in just 65 minutes.
The top seed was at her clinical best as she broke serve six times to prove far too much for the Italian to handle.
Williams had to fend off a match point to beat Vinci when the two met at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open last month, but this time her groundstrokes put her in total command.
"Wow, first final here - I'm very honoured to be in the first final in Zhuhai," Williams said in her on-court interview.
"Today wasn't an easy match. Every game was really well-contested and she never gave me any points. She's had a great year; I felt like I really earned the win today."
The victory earned Williams a 78th WTA final of her career, where Karolina Pliskova will stand in her way.
The Czech, ranked 13th in the world, put in a similarly dominant performance to end the hopes of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
Pliskova hit six aces and was ruthless in converting all of her break point opportunities as she triumphed 6-3 6-1 in 61 minutes.
Source: PA
