Unstoppable Williams

Serena Williams of the US hits a return to Sara Errani of Italy during their women's singles semi-final match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, June 6, 2013. Williams defeated Errani 6-0 6-1. [Photo/Agencies]

Quite what that will be is anyone's guess as Williams, apart from a brief hiccup against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinal when she dropped her only set of the tournament, has looked unstoppable on the Parisian clay.

Errani never stood a chance.

The 26-year-old looked close to tears at 0-3 in the second set but avoided the dreaded "double bagel" by winning the fourth game of the second set when her opponent fired a backhand wide.

She raised her hands in celebration but Williams soon resumed the slaughter to win the most one-sided women's singles semi-final here since seven-times champion Chris Evert beat Camille Benjamin 6-0 6-0 in 1984.

Errani's post-match news conference was also a brief affair, the Italian using the word "unbelievable" several times to describe Williams' performance.

Sara Errani of Italy serves to Serena Williams of the US during their women's singles semi-final match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, June 6, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

She also offered some hope for Sharapova.

"You have to have one of your best days and try to think she can have one bad day, like that you can win," Errani said.

Sharapova can hope, but she will have to play a lot better than against third-seeded Azarenka in a match that was intriguing and noisy but lacked sustained quality.

The Russian feebly dropped the opening game on serve to love with two double faults but responded to allow Azarenka only seven more points in the set.

Azarenka, playing in her first French Open semi-final, never usually ducks a scrap and began to return some of Sharapova's lusty blows with interest.