Third seed Venus Williams defeated Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-6(1) 6-2 in the final of the $600,000 Tennis.com Zurich Open to claim her second singles title of the year and 38th career title. The 2008 Wimbledon champion also won the Zurich title in 1999, while still a teenager.
The Tennis.com Zurich Open final was the first in four times that Venus Williams defeated Flavia Pennetta. The Italian, however, still leads their head-to-head series 3-2. Pennetta, who is expected to rise to a new career-high ranking of 14, was trying to become only the third player to beat Williams for a fourth straight match, after conquering her in Bangkok in 2007, then at Roland Garros and Moscow this year.
With the victory in her 60th career final Williams is expected to qualify for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.
On her way to the Tennis.com Zurich Open title Venus Williams defeated Alona Bondarenko, Francesca Schiavone, second seed Ana Ivanovic, and finally Flavia Pennetta, who upset world No.1 Jelena Jankovic in the second round.
