The 26-year-old Belgian had lost seven of eight previous matches to Williams. 'I tried to focus on one point at a time. I came out really well, seeing the ball really well.

'I kept her on the back foot. She had a few games when she served really well. You have to forget about those and re-focus. That's what I did, I'm still in shock. I never dreamed that I'd be in another final here.'

Both women came out more than ready for action after waiting more than eight hours to take to the court after a horror 48 hours of rain delays which has already wrecked the tournament schedule and forced the men's final to a Monday for the second year in succession.

Williams, the second seed struggling to re-take the number one ranking, was comprehensively outplayed, with 31 unforced errors.

Rafael Nadal buried his growing US Open weather frustration Saturday to finally complete a marathon quarter-final, crushing Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-0 in a men's match which began Thursday.

The contest was completely rained off Friday, a development which resulted in the men's final being postponed to Monday for the second year in a row at the hard-luck major which still has no plans for a covered showcase court.

Nadal will now have to play three days in succession if he is to fulfill the dream of completing his career Grand Slam.

The Spaniard who is nursing an abdominal strain will play a semi-final Sunday against Argentine Juan Del Potro, who booked his place in the last four Wednesday.

Nadal said that Friday's enforced day off gave his abdominal muscles some healing time.

'That might have helped me to recover a bit better. I felt good today. Fernando had some errors today which helped me,' he said.

'I'm in the semi-finals now and I hope to keep doing well.'