San Diego, CA – Third-seeded Venus Williams collected her third consecutive WTA tour victory Sunday with a 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Monica Seles in an all- American final at the $535,000 Acura Classic at the La Costa Resort and Spa.
Williams, who garnered her 12th career title, also took Wimbledon last month and the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford last week.
Williams cruised in the first set before Seles forced a third set in a tiebreaker. Williams was ahead 4-1 in the third set before Seles won two consecutive games. But Williams broke Seles to go up 5-3 and lost just one point while serving out the ultimate game.
Despite committing 14 double faults, Williams secured the victory. Seles had eight double faults, while Williams had seven aces to Seles’ two.
Williams, who received the $87,000 first prize, dropped her first set in the tournament, but has now won 14 straight matches. She is 21-3 in six tournaments since returning from wrist tendinitis.
Seles is now 0-3 lifetime against Williams, and had not taken a set from her younger American counterpart until Sunday.
Williams downed American Amy Frazier in 66 minutes in Saturday’s semifinal, while Seles outlasted Russian Anna Kournikova to reach the final.