Tag: serena williams
Williams Downs Wozniacki For Sixth U.S. Open Title

Williams Downs Wozniacki For Sixth U.S. Open Title

New York (AFP) — World number one Serena Williams won her 18th Grand Slam title at last, overpowering Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her sixth U.S. Open crown.

The world number one, shut out in the first three majors of the year, ended a year of waiting as she joined Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on 18 majors — trailing only the 22 of Steffi Graf on the Open era list and six behind the all-time record held by Margaret Court.

Williams, who turns 33 later this month, said the goal of an 18th Grand Slam had hung over her “because I was joining Chrissy and Martina, someone I never thought me, Serena Williams, would be in that name group.

“Who am I?” said Williams, who grinned with delight as Evert and Navratilova presented her with a gold bracelet bearing an “18” charm.

“I never thought you would mention my name with such greats and legends.”

Williams lifted the trophy at Flushing Meadows for the third straight year, joining Evert as the only woman in the Open era to win three titles in a row, and matching Evert’s six U.S. Open triumphs.

She also offered words of encouragement to her beaten foe, her friend and confidant as both endured difficult months this year.

“Congratulations to Caroline, she knows the struggles I have had,” Williams said, adding to her friend: “You will win a Grand Slam title soon.”

But former world number one Wozniacki, owner of 22 WTA titles, still has that gaping hole on her resume.

The Dane was just 19 when she lost to Kim Clijsters in the 2009 U.S. Open final, and she hadn’t returned to a Grand Slam title match until Sunday.

With so much on the line for each woman, the first set was a tense affair with few fireworks.

After saving a break point in the first game with an ace, Williams made Wozniacki pay for a tight first service game, in which the Dane double faulted twice.

Williams seized the break and a 2-0 lead with a pair of stinging service returns.

“I was a little nervous going out there,” said Wozniacki, who found the noise in Arthur Ashe Stadium “overwhelming.”

“I just wanted to get a good start. I knew that against Serena, you have to have a good start, otherwise she starts going in and being even more aggressive. You know, you’re kind of done.”

Williams didn’t run off with it right away, but a run of five service breaks ended with the American holding for a 5-2 lead, heaping the pressure on Wozniacki to hold for the first time.

She did, fending off one break point to force Williams to serve it out.

With a set in hand, Williams was moving more freely. Even luck wasn’t going Wozniacki’s way, as a net cord bounce in Williams’ favor ended a 20-shot rally to give the American a break chance in the first game of the second — which she promptly converted.

– So much on the line –

Wozniacki’s vaunted defensive skills were on full display in the second set as she doggedly ran down balls, but she couldn’t match Williams’ power and ability to conjure winners from all areas of the court.

Williams finished with 29 winners to Wozniacki’s four, belting a forehand to give herself match point.

That was the first moment she felt sure of victory, Williams said.

“Other than that I was really tight and nervous the whole match,” said Williams, who didn’t drop a set in the tournament. “There was so much on the line.”

When Wozniacki’s last backhand went long, Williams dropped to her back onthe court, covering her face with her hands.

“I just felt so good,” she said.

Williams began the year boldly, with the possibility of achieving a rare calendar Grand Slam talked up by her coach Patrick Mouratoglou before the Australian Open in January.

That dream ended with a fourth-round exit at Melbourne.

An embarrassing second-round exit at Roland Garros was followed by a third-round departure at Wimbledon — where she also looked weak and disoriented in a bizarre exit from doubles.

Since then Williams had gone from strength to strength, winning two US hardcourt titles in the run-up to the Open.

Her strong showing on the hardcourts of America meant she claimed a $4 million jackpot on Sunday — $3 million for winning the title and a $1 million bonus as the winner of the U.S. Open Series points race.

“I think through this whole tournament I was really calm,” Williams said. “I practiced so hard. Not just this week, but for like six months. I think it’s now showing.”

AFP Photo/Stan Honda

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Djokovic, Serena, Murray Sail Through At U.S. Open

Djokovic, Serena, Murray Sail Through At U.S. Open

By Dave James

New York (AFP) — Novak Djokovic reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the 25th consecutive time while Serena Williams racked up her 80th U.S. Open win as the top seeds eased into the third round on Thursday.

They were joined in the last 32 by 2012 winner Andy Murray and reigning Wimbledon women’s champion Petra Kvitova.

But former world number one Ana Ivanovic, the eighth seed, and 2011 champion Samantha Stosur were knocked out on a day when stiff winds brought new challenges at Flushing Meadows for players already tackling plus-30 degree heat (+90F).

World number one and top seed Djokovic breezed past France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, firing 13 aces and 33 winners as the 2011 champion comfortably remained on course for a fifth successive final appearance.

“It’s very windy, but I managed to adjust to the conditions that obviously are not easy for myself and my opponent,” said Djokovic, who next meets Sam Querrey of the United States, after his brief 90-minute appearance.

World number one Williams, chasing a third successive New York title, her sixth in total and an 18th major, sent 25 winners past Vania King and broke serve six times, wrapping up a 6-1, 6-0 victory on windswept Arthur Ashe Stadium in just 56 minutes.

It was her second win over an American at the tournament this week after beating teenager Taylor Townsend and next she will face another in Varvara Lepchenko for a place in the last 16.

“It’s so hard to play in the wind but I am happy to get through a solid match with the conditions today,” said the top seed whose colorful leopard print dress was as striking as her tennis.

Eighth-seeded Murray brushed aside 27-year-old German qualifier Matthias Bachinger, the world number 235, with a convincing 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win.

Murray exhibited none of the physical problems he suffered in the first round when he was cramping, sending down 36 winners past Bachinger, a contemporary from his junior days.

“Both of us struggled a bit early on but once I started to get used to the wind I was able to adjust my tactics a bit,” said the Scot.

Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic made the third round with a 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk on the back of 26 aces and 64 winners.

– Ivanovic, Stosur beaten –

Eighth-seeded Ana Ivanovic suffered her earliest U.S. Open exit in five years when the former world number one lost 7-5, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, the world number 42.

The Serb followed fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska out of the tournament after the Pole had been beaten by Peng Shuai 24 hours earlier.

The former French Open champion was undone by 29 unforced errors.

“It’s very disappointing. It’s never easy to finish this early,” said Ivanovic. “I’m definitely going to assess what went wrong and what I can work on. I really felt it wasn’t my game out there today.”

Stosur, the 24th seed, squandered two match points in a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10/8) defeat to Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, a six-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist.

There were no such dramas for Kvitova who defeated fellow Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 6-2 while Canadian seventh seed Eugenie Bouchard, the runner-up at Wimbledon, beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4.

Victoria Azarenka, the runner-up to Williams for the past two years, also made it through, winning nine games in succession from 0-3 down to defeat Christina McHale of the United States 6-3, 6-2.

Fifteen-year-old American CiCi Bellis, who became the youngest winner of a U.S. Open match since 1996 when she won her first round match, went down 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 to Zarina Dyas of Kazakhstan.

The United States only saw three men making the second round — the country’s lowest total in the history of the tournament — but 13th seed John Isner and Querrey have made it to the last 32.

Isner, a quarter-finalist in 2011, beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2 while Querrey beat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia Lopez for the fourth time in four meetings — including last week’s Winston Salem warm-up — thanks to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Australian 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios, who famously defeated Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, reached the third round by seeing off Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.

He will next face Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo who came back from two sets to love down for the seventh time in seeing off Italy’s Simone Bolelli 5-7, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

AFP Photo/Kena Betancur

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Serena Williams Wins WTA Stanford Title

Serena Williams Wins WTA Stanford Title

Stanford (United States) (AFP) — World number one Serena Williams climbed out of an early hole to beat third-seeded German Angelique Kerber 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 to win the WTA Stanford crown.

The top-seeded American, playing her first tournament since a disappointing Wimbledon campaign in which she was slowed by a virus, got her hardcourt build-up to the U.S. Open off to a good start and will try to carry the momentum into next week’s tournament at Montreal.

Williams collected her third Stanford trophy and her fourth title of 2014, after triumphs in Brisbane, Miami, and Rome.

But the 17-time Grand Slam champion has struggled in majors this year, failing to make it past the fourth round in the Australian Open, French Open, or Wimbledon.

She’ll have her last chance of the year to add another major title to her resume at the U.S. Open, which starts at Flushing Meadows on August 25.

“That would definitely make (my year) better,” Williams said. “That would be a great thing. But I’m just focused on the next tournament.”

Kerber, who saved a match point en route to her semi-final victory over Varvara Lepchenko on Saturday, soared to a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

Trailing 5-2, Williams saved two set points as she broke Kerber to trim the gap to 5-3, part of a run of five straight games that gave her a 6-5 lead.

Williams saved one set point with a screaming forehand cross-court winner before Kerber netted a forehand. The American took the game when Kerber poked a forehand wide.

Williams broke Kerber to love to knot the set at 5-5, and held serve for 6-5 with a game that included a 120 mile-per-hour ace.

“It wasn’t easy,” Williams said. “I blinked my eye and I was down 1-5. She was playing so well, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going on?’

“I just thought to myself, ‘Relax, don’t get crazy about it. Don’t think about anything but making your shots.'”

Kerber saved a set point in the 12th game as she held serve to force a tiebreaker that an increasingly confident Williams dominated.

Williams broke Kerber to open the second set and led the rest of the way, although she needed four match points to finally put the match away.

“I take away a lot of confidence from this match, knowing that I can play with the best,” Kerber said. “I felt I was trying and fighting, being aggressive on every point.

“But I know that Serena plays very good in the important moments. She starts moving better, serving better, hitting the lines. That’s a very special thing that she has.”

– Tough test looms in Montreal –

Williams can expect to be tested next week in her title defense at Montreal, where she could face Wimbledon finalist and Canadian hope Eugenie Bouchard in the quarter-finals.

After a first-round bye, she could find herself facing Australian Samantha Stosur, who beat her in the 2011 U.S. Open final.

Despite the injury withdrawal of Chinese superstar Li Na, the Montreal field boasts a wealth of big names including Maria Sharapova — who could meet Williams in the semi-finals — and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Kvitova, seeded second, won the Canadian crown in 2012. In her first tournament since her Wimbledon triumph she is joined in the bottom half of the draw by Agnieszka Radwanska, Victoria Azarenka, Jelena Jankovic, and Ivanovic.

AFP Photo/Ezra Shaw

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Serena Powers Into Miami Final

Serena Powers Into Miami Final

Miami (AFP) – World number one Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the final of the Miami hardcourt tournament.

Williams extended her dominance over the fourth-seeded Russian and now leads their career head-to-head 16-2.

The American has won 15 straight matches against Sharapova, whose two victories in their rivalry came back in 2004.

In the final, Williams will be gunning for a second straight Miami crown and a seventh overall.

She’ll face the winner of Thursday night’s match between world number two Li Na of China and 10th-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

Li has won all six of her meetings with Cibulkova, including January’s Australian Open final and a quarter-final clash at Indian Wells this month.

For Sharapova it was another disappointing finish in Miami, where she has reached five finals but never lifted the trophy.

Andy Lyons