Venus Williams secures second Zurich title

Venus Williams beat Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to win the Zurich Open title for the second time.

Williams went into the match having lost her last three matches against Pennetta, including a defeat at the French Open earlier this year.

But this time the American, champion in 1999, came through 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 against the Italian, who beat top seed Jelena Jankovic earlier in the week.

The title is Williams's second of 2008 following her win at Wimbledon.

It all but guarantees her a place at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha next month.

"I haven't managed to play at the Championships since 2002 so obviously I'm excited to be healthy enough to play there this year," said Williams.

"To have this good week going into the championships, working on more consistency in my game and not having so many errors, should also help me in Doha, assuming now that I'll be there."

Williams was made to work hard during the opening stages of Sunday's final with neither player able to fashion a single break point.

But the Wimbledon champion dominated the tie-break, storming into a 6-0 lead as she took charge of the encounter.

Pennetta then dropped serve for the first time in the third game of the second set, and Williams fired four straight aces to lead 3-1.

Williams grabbed another break of serve and, despite seeing a Pennetta backhand controversially called in on her first match point, the American sealed it with a service winner on her second.

"She didn't make a lot of mistakes and didn't give me any chance to break so I think that made the difference," said Pennetta.