PARIS — World number one Serena Williams crushed Italian Sara Errani 6-1 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the French Open in intimidating fashion on Wednesday.
The twice Roland Garros champion set up a meeting with Swiss 23rd seed Timea Bacsinszky or Belgian Alison van Uytvanck.
American Williams hammered 39 winners in a one-sided encounter against the diminutive 17th seed Errani, a French Open runner-up in 2012.
"I knew I had to start better today than the other days because she's a tough opponent who's got history here," Williams told a courtside interviewer in French.