Serena Williams serves notice in dominant victory
SERENA WILLIAMS WINS IN TORONTO VIDEO ANALYSIS
The US’ Serena Williams holds the WTA Rogers Cup winners trophy after defeating Samantha Stosur of Australia during their match on Sunday in Toronto.
Serena Williams won her second straight tournament and proved her mettle ahead of the US Open with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the Toronto Cup final on Sunday.
The former world No. 1, playing in just her fourth tournament since returning from an 11-month layoff in June, capped the victory in style with an ace and then raised her arms in the air before jumping up and down repeatedly.
Williams, who won the Stanford Classic last month, held her serve throughout the 77-minute match and called her game solid despite acknowledging there is room for improvement for the US Open, which begins on Aug. 29.
“My game is here and I feel like there are a lot of improvements I want to make — being able to close out big points and winning on big points, and capitalizing on that and still returning a little bit better,” Williams told reporters. “But overall it’s solid, I want to definitely keep it up and not go down.”
Stosur went toe-to-toe with Williams in a first set that went with serve until the 13-times Grand Slam champion broke in the ninth game with a forehand volley to the empty side of the court. She served out in the next game.
Williams had sent a screaming backhand winner down the line one point previously, which she said was when the match turned in her favor.
Williams broke Stosur in the opening game of the second set with a cross-court winner.
And after dropping a 12-point game to Stosur, Williams captured 12 of 14 points during a three-game stretch to go ahead 5-1.
The 10th-seeded Stosur held serve in the next game, but tournament organizers, perhaps unknowingly, showed little faith in her ability to mount a comeback.
During a change of sides before Williams had her first chance to serve for the match, they squeezed in a short clip on the main scoreboard thanking fans for attending the tournament and asking them to buy tickets for next year.
Williams followed that with a solid final game, firing four of her nine aces past a helpless Stosur, who saw only one break point during the match.
“For me, to be able to win, I had to play close to my best tennis, and I wasn’t quite at that mark,” Stosur told reporters. “She makes it look very easy and it’s not that easy just to come back on tour and win two events in your first four tournaments.”
Williams, who next plays the Cincinnati Open, improved to 11-0 in hard-court matches this year and is looking like the dominant player who captured the Wimbledon title last year before her layoff.
She entered the tournament as the world No. 80, but was projected to go as high as 31 when the rankings were scheduled to be released yesterday.
Despite that, Williams considers herself an underdog for the year’s final Grand Slam.
“I never go in as a favorite, I feel like I’m still the underdog,” she said. “I went through a lot of things physically, mentally and emotionally, and going through so much, so I am just taking it one day at a time and kind of like one match at a time.”
Victoria Azarenka withdrew from the doubles final with an injured right hand, clouding the world No. 4’s participation in the US Open.
Azarenka, who lost in straight sets to Williams in Saturday’s semi-final, withdrew from the doubles match along with playing partner Maria Kirilenko before taking the court.
video link
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:6861683
On Sunday at Uniprix Stadium, world no. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia extended his extraordinary streak by winning the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
In a match that wavered far more than expected, he defeated world no.8 and 6th seed Mardy Fish of the US in three sets (6-2, 3-6, 6-4).
Djokovic racked up his 53rd win in 54 matches this year and fifth Masters 1000 trophy - a record.
To bank the 1000 ranking points and US$450 000 awarded to the winner, Djokovic had to overcome a few slowdowns and some improbable forehands from Fish.
In the first set, the battle was heated until the 6th game. Then, Djokovic won two consecutive games thanks to his perfect consistency from the backcourt. After 38 minutes, the set was over.
The winds change
A few scares were in store for the Serb in the second set. At 2-2, he was broken for the first time since his second round match against Nikolay Davydenko. Looking more erratic and nervous than he had earlier on, he lost his serve again in the 9th game, giving the set to Fish on a silver platter after 54 minutes of play.
Djokovic had to dig deep to regain control of the final set and secure the deciding break. He did so at 3-3 as Fish seemed to be tiring. With three championship points at 5-3 and under stress, the world no.1 let his rival come back to deuce before making his move.
The match ended after 2 hours, 23 minutes of intense rallies to the roar of the crowd.
Lifting the Rogers Cup, his ninth title in ten events this year, Djokovic reasserted his dominance at the top of the rankings.
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