It was Venus Williams who would ended Shahar Peer’s winning streak at the Dubai championship semifinals on Friday with a score of 6-1, 6-4. If she emerges on top come the finals this will be the American player’s second Dubai title.
Williams is expected to face off with Victoria Azarenka who defeated Agnieszka Radwanska with a score of 6-3, 6-4 at the semifinal held at the Aviation Club.
Peer has been participating in the championship under strict security restrictions, with most of her movements limited to the hotels and the courts. The Israeli player was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates in the past year, but this year, it was because of William’s insistence that she would not be defending her title if Peer was not admitted to the Emirates, a move that earned her the gratitude of the Israeli player. For security reasons, Peer played while guards watched her from the court sidelines. All of her games also had to be played in the most secure court and not Center Court. However despite the restrictions Peer managed to go past all three seeds including Caroline Wozniacki.
Although Peer started out strong, she was no match for Williams who raced to a 4-0 lead in the first set and took the final two games in the set in over 20 minutes.