By Etienne Stekelenburg
April 1 2005

Kim Clijsters thrashed Amelie Mauresmo at Key Biscayne's NASDAQ-100 6-1 6-0. The Belgian reached her second consecutive final after her comeback. Maria Sharapova defeats Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3. Sharapova meets Clijsters in her first NASDAQ-100 Open final. With the seventh consecutive victory over Amelie Mauresmo the Belgian Kim Clijsters advanced to the NASDAQ-100 Open final.

“In Indian Wells it was like a dream and now it's even more amazing. I'm enjoying myself and everything is in place at the moment,” Clijsters said. “Things have clicked into place really quickly,” she said after beating Mauresmo 6-1 6-0, losing only 10 points in the second set.

Clijsters will face Maria Sharapova in Saturday’s final at Key Biscayne.

Sharapova took the lead against Venus Williams after winning 5 consecutive games in the first set 6-4 and taking the second set 6-3. Williams had problems getting her serves right after 4-5 that is when the first set was in Sharapova’s hands.

Sharapova took a 3-0 lead in the second set and Williams found a way to come back. The rallies were getting longer and Sharapova could fight off six breakpoints before ending the match after Williams hits a backhand long.

The Russian was hitting well-placed groundstrokes after hitting powerful serves accompanied with her familiar screaming and screeching. It got her into her first NASDAQ-100 Open final.