Serena Williams won her first title in 11 months when she beat Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-3 in the Bangalore Open final on Sunday.
Making her debut in Bangalore, Williams won her 29th career title and first since last April at Miami.
"It's good to be a champ here, it always feels good to win," Williams said.
The American squandered two set points at 4-5 in the first set and rallied from 3-0 down in the second.
Serving for the match, Williams had to save two break points before claiming the victory in 83 minutes.
"I did not want to make too many errors. That was my game plan, but I did not stick to it," Williams said. "It wasn't my best match. Patty played well and forced me to do better."
Williams was playing only her second tournament of the year. After her title defense at the Australian Open ended in the quarter-finals, she had gum surgery and had to withdraw from four tournaments last month.
This week, she saved a match point in beating sister Venus in the semi-finals.
In the final, 11th-ranked Williams was warned for court violation and racket abuse when she cursed and smashed her racket on the ground in the fifth game.
"I'm passionate about what I do. I got too passionate, my grip was wet and that's what happened," Williams said.
Williams missed two sets points with Schnyder serving at 4-5, and squandered two more in the 12th game before winning the fifth set point on a netted return by the Swiss player.
Schnyder, ranked 12th, broke Williams twice to lead 3-0 in the second but Williams had the set tied at 3-3 and rolled to the end.
In the doubles final, Peng Shuai and Sun Tiantian of China defeated top-seeded Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan 6-4, 5-7, 10-8.
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
RSS