Williams into final of the Taiwan Open 2016

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan

Venus Williams booked her spot in the Taiwan Open final without dropping a set all tournament long, but the No.1 seed had to overcome a stiff challenge from Yulia putintseva to get there.

At the start, it seemed like the match was going to be smooth sailing for the American - Williams broke the No.3 seed early and rushed ahead to a 4-1 lead. But after some words from her coach during the changeover, Putintseva roared to life, winning four out of the next five games to level the score at 5-5.

They stayed toe to toe until a double fault and a mishit forehand from Putintseva gave Williams a break to close out the opening set at 7-5.

Williams and Putintseva started out the second set as evenly matched as they ended the previous one: they traded breaks and holds to keep the score tied at 2-2. But from then the errors began to creep up on Putintseva and Williams closed out the match 7-5, 6-3.