Top seed Venus Williams beat Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-3 6-2 yesterday to win the inaugural Istanbul Cup, a valuable warm-up for the American ahead of this week's French Open.

Williams, 11th seed at Roland Garros, dispatched the 16-year-old Czech with ease on the clay court to claim her first WTA title of the year.

"It's good to play against such a strong player as Vaidisova before the French Open gets underway on Monday," Williams said.

"I'm very excited about winning the title. It is my first time here."

Second seed Vaidisova had advanced to the final after defeating the third seed, Israel's Anna Smashnova.

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