Serena remains on course for gold

REUTERS

Serena Williams remains on course for her first Olympic singles gold medal after crushing eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.

London – Serena Williams remains on course for her first Olympic singles gold medal after crushing Danish eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Serena, a two-time doubles gold medallist with sister Venus, was at her imperious best on Wimbledon's Court One and the American fourth seed, who faces a semifinal clash with world number one Victoria Azarenka, is now just two victories away from winning gold.

Williams claimed her magnificent 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Vera Zvonareva in the previous round of the Games topped any of her performances en route to her fifth Wimbledon title last month.

Ominously for her rivals, the 30-year-old was just as dominant against former world number one Wozniacki.

Serena has made it her goal to become just the second woman after German legend Steffi Graf to complete the Golden Slam of all four major titles and Olympic singles gold.

Wozniacki never threatened to end Serena's dream and the American quickly secured two breaks to take control in the first set.

There was no let-up from Serena, who hit 13 winners to just one from the Dane in the first set, and the pressure proved too much for the rattled Wozniacki, who surrendered the set with a double-fault.

Wozniacki finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth game of the match.

But that just prompted an even more brutal assault from Serena and the 14-time Grand Slam winner quickly broke again before serving out the win. – AFP