Family Circle Cup 2012 Finals Live: Serena vs Safarova

Serena Williams blasted 29 winners in her 61 61 semifinal win over Sam Stosur at the Family Circle Cup 2012 Charleston tennis tournament. She advanced against Lucie Safarova who also dominated her semifinal opponent Polona Hercog 60 60 to advance to her first WTA final of the season. Watch the Family Circle Cup 2012 finals between Serena vs Safarova here. Both players are seeking their first WTA title of the year and get a good head start in this year's clay court season.

The Serena vs Stosur was a highly anticipated match as Stosur earlier ruined a sibling semifinal when she beat Venus Williams in three sets in the quarterfinal round. Stosur was expected to give Serena a run for her money as she won their only clay court match at the 2010 French Open when Serena was the top seed and ranked #1 in the world. Stosur also was a surprise winner against Serena in the 2011 US Open final when the American was heavily favored to win her 14th Grand Slam title. It was Serena who came out on top in their last meeting winning in straight sets at the Miami tennis tournament last month. With the win, Serena now leads Stosur 6-3 in their head-to-head career meetings.

It was a surprise that Serena won so easily against the higher ranked Australian but Stosur conceded that Serena played very high quality tennis and deserved the win. "To be honest, I actually felt pretty good out there," Stosur said. "My body wasn't aching or really all that tired to be honest, so unfortunately I can't use that as an excuse. I just thought she played very, very well today. I barely got a look in. I tried standing back and standing in, but it didn't really seem to matter what I did on the court today. She came out with the goods every time... It wasn't bad luck. She just beat me fair and square."

In the second semifinal, Safarova registered her best tournament result for the season by routing the surprise package of the tournament in Hercog in just over an hour. Safarova was in her first semifinal of the year with her previous best showing at a tournament being a quarterfinalist at Doha. Percog had a superb tournament beating veterans Marion Bartoli and Nadia Petrova in consecutive matches for her first semifinal after suffering seven straight first round losses to start the year. But she had little to offer against Safarova failing to win a single game to go out 60 60.

Safarova will now attempt to win the fifth WTA career title against Serena and her first since the 2008 Forest Hills title. As for Serena, she will be aiming for her 40th WTA title. She reached her 55th WTA finals where she has a 39-15 record. Serena will certainly be the favored player to win the Family Circle Cup 2012 title, but expect Safarova to fight with all her might. Watch the exciting Family Circle Cup 2012 final between Serena and Safarova to be broadcast live online via TennisTv.com directly from the Charleston tennis tournament.