"All the world's a stage", Shakespeare wrote, and new author Serena Williams continued her habit of delivering her most potent performances on the game's most prestigious platforms.
In the 23rd installment of the Williams sisters' historic rivalry, Serena served with authoritative audacity on big points to dethrone defending Doha champion Venus, 6-2, 7-6(4), in 85 minutes. at the Khalifa Tennis Complex and capture the Sony Ericsson Championships title for the first time since 2001.
It feels fantastic. I definitely wasn't expecting to win when I came here because I hadn't been practicing very well," said Serena, who collected a champion's check of $1.55 million. "I kept fighting against a really tough player but Venus kept hitting the ball back. That's never easy and it's really frustrating."
It is Williams' third title of the year — following her victory over Dinara Safina in the Australian Open final in January and her Wimbledon final conquest of Venus in July — and her first non-Grand Slam championship since she won Charleston in April of 2008.
Clearly, Serena summons her best tennis at the big events which is exciting for the Grand Slams, but also puts the WTA Tour in an interesting position in that the world's best player has not often been a factor in Tour finals the past two years — Williams' only other Tour final this season was her straight-sets loss to Victoria Azarenka in the Sony Ericsson Open final in Miami in April — while the woman she surpassed to take back the top spot, Safina, has never won a major.
The second-ranked Williams arrived in Doha this week prepared to duel Safina in a highly-anticipated showdown for the year-end No. 1 ranking. But by the time the dust in the desert settled on Sunday night, four members of the field had hobbled off in retirements or withdrawals due to an assortment of ailments and injuries — Safina, Azarenka, 2008 finalist Vera Zvonareva and Caroline Wozniacki, who retired from Saturday's semifinal against Serena due to an abdominal injury — while the two oldest players in the singles field squared off for the title both wearing bandages on court.
As the stakes grew bigger, the tape on her left thigh grew larger but Serena shrugged that off and fought off the challenges of all comers, including saving a match point to subdue Venus in their round-robin meeting, to complete the week with a 5-0 record, regain the year-end World No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2002 and reclaim the season-ending Championships crown for the first time since she took the title on a walkover win over Lindsay Davenport in Hanover, Germany eight years ago.
A season that has seen Williams confront her share of controversy — there may be a fine coming from the ITF in the aftermath of her outburst at a line judge after being hit with a foot fault call in her US Open semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters and she teased American Fed Cup fans in committing to playing the Fed Cup final next weekend in Italy only to abruptly pull the plug just a few days after captain Mary Joe Fernandez named her as a starter leaving an embarassed USTA to announce Williams' departure without even citing a reason for it — has also seen her rise to the occasion in capturing two major titles and the season-ending event.
Throughout this week, she solidified her status as the game's best closer in continously eradicating the hopes of opponents by slamming down yet another service winner or ace in pivotal points of the match.
Breaking serve in the third and seventh games, Serena seized a straight-forward first set and looked to the the stronger player as Venus, playing with heavy taping around her left knee, did not always get to the ball as quickly as her sister.
Venus leaned into a forehand drive down the line to hold at 30 for 4-3 in the second set. Serena answered, snapping off an ace to forge a 4-all tie.
Trying to squeeze successive shots inside the sideline, Venus let a 40-0 lead slip from her grip. At deuce, she jammed a second serve into the body and drew a long lob from her sister, who then slapped a rally shot into the middle of the net. Venus walked to the sideline with a 5-4 lead.
Serena issued an emphatic love hold for 5-all. When Serena steered a forehand long, the defending champion gained a 6-5 advantage. Untested on serve in teh 12th game, Serena forced the tie breaker then lifted her level of play considerably to put the match away.
Venus never really found her footing in the breaker, committing a few early mistakes — slapping a forehand into net, hitting a double fault — then watching as Serena, who delivered yet another ace early in the tie break, stepped inside the baseline and fired a ferocious forehand winner for a 5-1 lead.
Still, Venus, who gallantly fought her way into the final after losing tough three-set skirmishes with Elena Dementieva and Serena in her first two round-robin matches, roused herself for one final push. She closed to 5-4, but her sister slammed the door of opportunity shut.
Fittingly, Serena slammed her sixth ace to reach championship point. She opened the court beautifully, extended her left hand in front of her as a guide and blistered a forehand winner to end the encounter and take a 13-10 lead in her head-to-head series with Venus.
