Serena Williams danced to the crowd’s roar, spinning and grinning, hopping and waving, then spinning some more.
If her victory celebration on the stadium court seemed well-rehearsed, it was. She earned a record sixth Key Biscayne women’s title by beating familiar foe Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 at the Sony Open on Saturday.
Sharapova is now winless in five Key Biscayne finals.
Photo: Reuters
The Russian played nearly flawless tennis for an hour, before her serve and groundstrokes began to lose steam. Williams swept the last 10 games and faltered only during the trophy ceremony.
“I felt good today,” she told the crowd with a smile. “It’s so good to be No. 6 now — I mean, the six-time — oh, gosh. Thank you.”
At 31, the No. 1-ranked Williams became the oldest female champion at Key Biscayne. She won the tournament for the first time since 2008 and surpassed Steffi Graf, a five-time champion.
“Serena played a great match,” 25-year-old Sharapova said. “I’m sure we’ll be playing a few more times this year.”
Sharapova did not sound thrilled by the prospect, with good reason. She has lost 11 consecutive matches against Williams and has not beaten her since 2004.
The match began at high noon in sunny, mild weather, and the quality of shotmaking matched the conditions in the early going. The aggressive style of both players made for slam-bang points, and the occasional long rallies had the crowd gasping at their ferocity.
As they battled from the baseline, Sharapova built a lead by keeping Williams on the defensive, and kissed the line with a winner on consecutive points to break for a 3-2 advantage in the second set.
“I just was like, ‘Serena, are you really going to get to the final and not play up to your potential?”’ Williams said. “I don’t think I was as energized as I could be.”
Then came the turnaround. Williams ratcheted up the power, began feasting on Sharapova’s tentative second serve and broke back at love, then took advantage of two double-faults by Sharapova to break again.
Williams lives two hours up the highway in Palm Beach Gardens, and she made herself right at home in the final set, losing only 10 points.
“That’s why she’s No. 1 in the world,” Sharapova said. “She’s really capable of doing that. I was controlling a lot of the points in the first set and the beginning of the second. Then toward the end, I wasn’t there.”
Williams’ late surge won cheers from the crowd, which included her sister, three-time champion Venus.
Sharapova made 80 percent of her first serves early on, but finished at 63. Williams converted all seven break-point chances and had a 35-13 advantage in winners.
However, Williams’ standards are high, and in her postmatch news conference, she sounded as though she had lost.
“Today wasn’t my day, I don’t think,” she said. “Maria played really the best I have seen her play, and I think she was moving unbelievable, and she was hitting winners from everywhere.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
RSS