On Saturday when sensational American female tennis star and world number one, Serena Jameka Williams, thrashed Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro to win her eighth Miami Open title, it was clear that she is still on top of her game, despite the fact she is no longer getting younger.
The 33-year-old tennis queen raced to a 6-2 6-0 victory in 56 minutes to secure her third straight title at Crandon Park— winning the final 10 games as she outclassed Suarez Navarro, who will make her top-10 debut next week.
Reacting to the victory, the tennis queen expressed delight at winning eight times in a particular tourney, a feat that is remarkable in the WTA.
“It feels really good to have ‘eight’ under my belt. I’d like to believe that the older I get, the better I get,” she enthused, referring to her remarkable feat.
Earlier, Suarez Navarro, 26, went into the biggest final of her career, having won just 10 games in four previous meetings with the younger Williams sister, and the 12th seed could add only two more.
The Spaniard began well, even threatening a break of serve at 2-2, 30-30, but Williams slammed the door shut with successive aces and was soon 4-2 in front.
A thumping forehand winner brought up a third set point for Williams after a little over half an hour and Suarez Navarro could only fire long.
Williams had hit 16 winners to just two from her opponent and, faced with a break point for the first time at the start of the second set, she produced three unreturnable serves.
It heralded a passage of utter dominance as Williams reeled off 23 out of 25 points.
Suarez Navarro, who entered the world’s top 10 for the first time this week, asked for advice from Coach Xavi Budo at a changeover but she was being overwhelmed.
She, at least, avoided a repeat of her 6-0 6-0 defeat against Williams at the US Open two years ago, but the American brought a swift end to the contest before the hour mark.
A peep into remarkable successes Serena has made in WTA shows that she became the World’s No. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002, and regained this ranking for the sixth time on February 18, 2013, becoming the oldest world No. 1 player in WTA’s history.
Williams is also regarded by some experts and former tennis players to be the greatest female tennis player in history.
She is the only female player to have won over $60 million in prize money, and is the reigning Australian Open, US Open, WTA Tour Championships and Olympic ladies singles champion.
Frequently hailed as the ‘Queen of the Court’ by the general media, Williams holds the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined amongst active players, male or female.
Her record of 34 Grand Slam titles puts her seventh on the all-time list: 19 in singles, 13 in women’s doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles.
She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2002–03), and the fifth woman ever to do so.
She is also the most recent player, together with her sister Venus Williams, to have held all four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles simultaneously (2009–10).
Her total of 19 Grand Slam singles titles is tied for third on the all-time list with Helen Wills Moody behind Margaret Court (24 titles) and Steffi Graf (22 titles), and second in the Open Era, behind only Graf.
She has won 13 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus and the pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam finals. Serena Williams is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships. The arrival of Venus and Serena Williams has been credited with launching a new era of power in women’s tennis.
Williams has won four Olympic gold medals, one in women’s singles and three in women’s doubles, an all-time record shared with her sister Venus.
From the foregoing, the question on the lips of tennis fans worldwide is “who can stop unstoppable Serena Williams?”
For now, it is only time that can unravel the answer, as the 2015 WTA season promises to be exciting and action packed.
Congrats Serena for making tennis another exciting sport to behold after football!
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.