Venus sets record as she earns WTA final against Wozniacki
Venus Williams became the oldest woman ever to reach the final when she beat Caroline Garcia to set up a WTA Finals title decider with Caroline Wozniacki.
The 37-year-old American recovered from a set down to claim a 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3 semi-final win over France’s Garcia and make her first final since 2009.
Denmark’s Wozniacki, 27, booked her place by seeing off Czech Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 in Singapore.
Pliskova’s defeat means Simona Halep will end 2017 as world number one.
Fifth seed Williams will go into Sunday’s final with a 7-0 record against sixth seed Wozniacki stretching back to 2007.
Garcia had claimed the final spot in the season finale after winning successive WTA titles at the Wuhan and China Open, but her impressive form was ended by 2008 champion Williams.
After dominating the tiebreak to take the opening set, Garcia was outplayed by Australian Open and Wimbledon finalist Williams, converting just one of her 13 break points.
The American hit back to take the next two sets, recovering from 0-40 down to serve out the match and make her first appearance in the final for eight years.
She overtakes the 36-yearold Martina Navratilova in 1992 as the oldest woman to reach the final of the seasonending championships.
“It’s hard to produce your best tennis at the end of the year because you’ve given so much but it’s so important to do that in this tournament,” Williams said.