Top seeded and defending champ Serena Williams destroyed Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2 in one hour on Saturday to reach her second straight final at the WTA hardcourt tournament at Stanford.
The first all-American final on US soil since 2004 will feature top seed Williams against Californian Coco Vandeweghe, a lucky loser from qualifying who defeated fifth seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the first WTA final of her career. Vandeweghe got into the main draw after a withdrawal and made the most of her opportunity, beating former world number one Jelena Jankovic in the second round.
Williams had a poor first serve percentage of 37 percent but did not waste time in crushing Cirstea to reach her second final in a week after winning Wimbledon seven days ago.
The Romanian was saddled with 31 unforced errors and got only one break point chance against Williams. The 30-year-old Williams is poised to join sister Venus on 43 career trophies if she can win another title against her 120th-ranked opponent.
Williams played this week fighting jet-lag after flying over directly from Wimbledon eight time zones away. "This week was weird," said the 14-time grand slam champion. "I felt like I wasn't there for about half of it, but here it is, Sunday and another final." Williams finished on her second match point after Cirstea saved a first winning chance a game earlier.