Serena Williams wasted little time in dispatching Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-0 in under an hour at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome to set up a semi-final clash with Irina-Camelia Begu.
World number one Williams, three-time Italian Open champion, gained revenge on Kuznetsova in clinical fashion as the Russian was the last woman to beat her in Miami nearly two months ago.
Williams made her intentions plain in the opening game and it quickly became clear there would be no repeat of that upset in Rome.
The American hit 20 winners and made only 13 unforced errors on her way to white-washing world number 19 Kuznetsova in the second set.
Romania's world number 35 Begu booked her place in the last four against Williams after overcoming some second-set jitters to beat Japan's Misaki Doi, conqueror of Britain's Johanna Konta in the previous round, 6-2 7-6 (7/3).
Begu cruised through the first set, but was made to fight back from 3-1 down in the second before clinching the match in a second-set tie-break.
Garbine Muguruza secured the first spot in the semi-finals and set up a meeting with American Madison Keys after beating Timea Bacsinszky 7-5 6-2 after a see-saw first set.
The Spaniard outlasted her Swiss opponent in a first set that lasted well over an hour, breaking decisively in the final game before going on to maintain her aggression and take the last four games in the second set.
Keys, world number 24, reached the last four at the tournament for the first time but was made to work hard by the Czech Republic's Barbora Strycova, ranked 12 places lower, before winning 6-4 4-6 6-4.
The American beat Strycova in Madrid last week and looked on course for another straightforward victory after taking the first set, but the Czech battled doggedly to force a decider, which Keys secured courtesy of a single break in the eighth game.
Source: PA
