Venus Williams' seemingly inevitable charge to world number one status gathered momentum today as she crushed fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy to win the Betty Barclay Cup in Hamburg,

She can leapfrog current number one Martina Hingis before the French Open later this month and her victory in Germany proves that together with the power which saw her win Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic singles titles last year, she also possesses the sharp brain needed for clay-court tennis.

Her 6-3 6-0 win against Shaughnessy followed Saturday's equally impressive 6-3 6-1 defeat of Yugoslavian Jelena Dokic and strengthens her world number two status.

Williams, who won the title in 1999, collected a cheque for 90,000 US Dollars (£62,500) and then set her sights on the world top ranking.

"I am more than happy with my performance," she said.

"If I can always play like that, I can improve my position in the world rankings even further.

"And that is my target for this year."

"I played well this week, within myself," Williams added.

"I had played all of my opponents before, and had some crazy scores against them, so I was determined to try and focus right from the beginning of each match."

Williams next heads to the Eurocard German Open, which begins on Monday, where she is the number two seed behind Martina Hingis, as preparations for the French Open continue.

"Clay is a good surface for me, and contrary to popular belief I like playing on it," Williams added.

"I am playing Berlin next week, and then two weeks at home practising before the French. This year I am going to try my best there."

Shaughnessy, 21, was appearing in her second final against an American this year.

She fell to Lindsay Davenport at the State Farm Tennis Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona in March.

Shaughnessy claimed her only singles title last year at Shanghai, China. "I wasn't serving well today," Shaughnessy said.

"I basically felt hopeless out there today. Venus was playing too well and when she plays like that, she's on another level compared to the other players."