In the battle between the former world number ones, Williams needed barely an hour to beat her Belgian opponent and remains on course to win the gem-encrusted racket on offer for winning the event three times in a five-year span.

BBC: SPORT | Tennis | Venus curtails Clijsters comeback

This year they have played three times: the Australian Open final, which Djokovic won in a five-set match that lasted nearly six hours, and in Monte Carlo and in Rome, both on clay and both wins for Nadal.

WSJ: Rafael Nadal, the Underrated Tactician, Stalks Novak Djokovic