WARSAW, May 1: Venus Williams will face Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the J and S Cup after beating third seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2 here on Saturday.

Earlier fourth seed Kuznetsova overcame ninth seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone by the same score.

Zvonareva offered second seeded Williams a good challenge and engaged her in a succession of fierce baseline rallies. But Williams held an edge with the power and quality of her serving, which often placed her Russian opponent under pressure.

Gaudio in final again

BARCELONA: Former Barcelona Open champion Gaston Gaudio earned a second run at the title on Saturday with a 6-3 6-4 semi-final win over Spanish wildcard Albert Montanes.

Argentine 13th seed Gaudio, who won the tournament in 2002, broke Montanes' serve in the fifth game and then pulled ahead to easily claim the first set.

He seemed headed for a relaxed victory when he went 5-2 up in the second set but a newly inspired Montanes, who knocked out former French Open winner Albert Costa in the first round, broke the Argentine's serve twice to revive his chances.

But at 5-4 down and serving to level the set the Spaniard lost concentration and handed his opponent the match.

Gaudio faces the winner of Saturday's other match between Spaniard Tommy Robredo, seeded eight, and Kristof Vliegen, the Belgian qualifier who beat David Nalbandian in the last eight.

Semifinal results: 8-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-4 6-3 13-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-3 6-4

Munich Open results

BERLIN: Result of a semi-final match at the 375,750 euros ($447,100) Munich Open ATP tournament on Saturday:4-Martin Verkerk (Netherlands) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Luis Horna (Peru) 6-4-6-1.-Agencies