Serena Williams

is headed for the French Open final after slamming Italy’s Sara Errani in their semifinal match Thursday in Paris.

PARIS — Serena Williams overwhelmed last year’s runner-up, fifth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy, 6- 0, 6-1 in a mere 46 minutes Thursday to reach the French Open final for the first time since winning her lone championship here in 2002.

“It doesn’t seem like that long ago,” Williams said, “even though it was.”

To collect her 16th Grand Slam title Saturday, Williams will need to beat defending champion Maria Sharapova, who put aside 11 double-faults and got past third-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

“I did the job,” Sharapova said. “I just hope that I can improve for the next one.”

In the men’s semifinals Friday, seven-time champion Rafael Nadal will play No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the 35th time, and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces Spaniard David Ferrer.

The final features the top two women in the rankings and seedings, No. 1 Williams and No. 2 Sharapova. They are 1-2 among active players in French Open match wins, Williams with 45, Sharapova with 43. And they are two of three active women with more than two major championships; Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam in Paris last year with No. 4.

Plus, Williams has won a career-best 30 consecutive matches, the longest season streak on tour since 2000. Sharapova has won 13 consecutive matches in Paris.

But Williams is 13-2 against Sharapova, including winning the last 12.

“Well, I’d be lying if it doesn’t bother me, obviously,” said Sharapova, who last defeated Williams in 2004, at Wimbledon and the WTA Championships. “Whatever I did in the past hasn’t worked, so I’ll have to try to do something different.”

Williams never gave Errani a chance to switch things up.

The 31-year-old American won the first nine games.

When Errani finally got on the board, 37 minutes in, she raised both arms overhead as the crowd roared.

Williams accumulated a 40-2 discrepancy in winners and won 28 of 33 points she served, helped by five aces, including one at 123 mph. She smacked 10 return winners. She mixed in overhead smashes, powerful groundstrokes, even a drop shot.

“She was playing,” Williams’ mother, Oracene Price, said, “like Serena of old.”

“I really believed I had a chance and I was trying to fight,” said Errani, now 0-6 against Williams. “Maybe on the outside, people will think that’s not true. But I know that I tried, right until the end.”