The American tennis star, Venus Williams, has advanced directly to the final at the Auckland Classic after her semi-final opponent, Jamie Hampton, withdrew due to injury.
The fifth seeded American, Hampton, injured her hip in a warm-up this morning and decided to withdraw with the year's first grand slam, the Australian Open, starting next Monday.
Williams will play the winner of the other semi-final between Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Ana Ivanovic which gets underway at 5.
