Williams to meet Bartoli in California final

Second-seeded Venus Williams will meet Italy's Marion Bartoli in the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University in California.

Williams, of the United States, was impressive in beating third seed Elena Dementieva in a little more than an hour.

The beaten Wimbledon finalist, targeting a third title at Stanford, gave the Russian few openings and dropped just one game in a 6-0 6-1 success.

Eighth seed Bartoli booked her place in the final with victory in three sets over Australia's Samantha Stosur, 6-3 1-6 6-1.