Venus Williams won the Zurich Open for the second time in her illustrious career over Sunday with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 victory over Flavia Pennetta.

The third-seeded American, who won this event in back 1999 at age 19, had lost three straight times to Pennetta, including setbacks at the French Open and Moscow, but was determined not to let it happen again.

Williams battled through a tense first set, then broke Pennetta's serve twice in the second en route to winning her 38th career title.

By winning her second title of 2008, Williams clinched a spot at the season-ending WTA Tour Championship in Doha next month. She also won at Wimbledon in July.

Pennetta, who was seeking her third title this year and seventh overall, had made a statement earlier in this tournament with a second-round upset of world number one Jelena Jankovic.

With neither player budging in the first set, Williams took control by racing to a 6-0 lead in the tiebreak. The run included a pair of powerful groundstrokes that Pennetta was unable to handle.

After saving one set point, Pennetta ripped a back-hander into the net.

Williams broke Pennetta in the third game of the second set when the Italian again smashed another backhand into the net.

Cashing in on that miscue, Williams rifled four straight aces in the next game to build a 3-1 lead.

She had six aces in the match, compared to none for Pennetta.

"I obviously had a great service game today and it was the first time ever that I won a game like that," Williams said.

At 5-2, Williams put away the match when Pennetta was unable to muster a return off another powerful serve.

Pennetta failed in her bid to become the third player to defeat Williams four straight times. Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport - both former world number ones - are the only players to achieve the feat.

"Today she didn't make a lot of mistakes and didn't give me any chance to break so I think that made the difference today," Pennetta said.