Ruthless Serena Williams underlined her dominance at the top of women’s tennis on Sunday, completing her year in style with a 6-2, 7-6 defeat of big sister Venus in the final of the WTA Championships.
The two Americans, facing each other across the net for the 22nd time in their glittering careers, provided nearly an hour and a half of power tennis under the Khalifa Stadium floodlights but there was only going to be one winner.
Serena, who came to Doha ranked second in the world behind Dinara Safina but will return home as the rightful No. 1 after winning both the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, broke serve twice in a one-sided first set.
Defending champ Venus made more of a match of it in the second set but never got close to breaking the Serena serve that leaked just seven points in the entire match.
Serena pressed the accelerator in the tiebreak to build a 5-1 lead and although Venus clawed back three points, the 28-year-old completed victory with her fifth ace followed by a fizzing forehand into the extremity of the court.
“It’s nice to finally win a tournament other than a Grand Slam,” said the 11-times major champion who last won a title outside the season’s big four in April last year.
“We definitely weren’t physically 100 percent out there today but it just shows you how much we try,” she said. “Even in the second set, how hard we just both fought, especially Venus, she was getting every ball back.”
“I’ve seen Venus return better, and I served well. I think I really did serve well,” she said.
Serena’s perfect week earned her the maximum US$1.5 million jackpot after she won all of her round-robin matches on her way to claiming the season-ending showpiece for the first time since her debut in 2001.
The only set she dropped during the week was against Venus in the round-robin stage.
Venus, at 29 the oldest woman in the eight-player draw, had spent nearly 11 hours on court in oppressive heat and humidity to reach the final with all three of her group matches, two of which she lost, and her semi-final going the distance.
She refused to blame injuries or the fact she had a tough fight against Jelena Jankovic the day before while Serena had an easy ride when Caroline Wozniacki pulled out injured after just one set of their semi-final.
“I’ve been playing for a long time. I’m not going to be the one to say, ‘Oh, I played forever yesterday’. You have to show up and play no matter what. That really has nothing to do with it,” she said.
“I just made a slow start and although I served better in the second set I didn’t serve as well as I wanted to,” Venus said.
Both players wore substantial strappings on their legs but whereas Venus looked weary, Serena seemed full of energy as she kept her sister on the back foot.
The crowd, easily the biggest of the week, willed Venus to lift her game in the second and she raised her level sufficiently to keep Serena at bay but it was not enough to give the tournament the kind of finale the WTA had hoped for.
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
‘BOWLINE’ AND ‘ARCTOS’: Roy Quaden was hit on the head by a boom, while Nick Smith was struck by the main sheet and thrown across the boat amid rough seas Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, officials said yesterday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas. One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organizers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. “Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and
Liverpool on Thursday powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as the title favorites survived a scare in their 3-1 win against Leicester City, while Bruno Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s dismal 2-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Erling Haaland missed a penalty as crisis-torn Manchester City failed to end their dismal run with a 1-1 draw against Everton, but it was United’s travails and Liverpool’s remarkable run that took center-stage. Arne Slot’s side were shocked by Jordan Ayew’s early strike at Anfield, but the leaders recovered their composure to equalize just before the interval through Cody
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
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