September 10, 2012
The Queen of Queens Is Serena Once More
By TOM PERROTTA
Serena Williams, the dominant women's tennis player of her generation, recovered from a 5-3 deficit in the third set to beat Victoria Azarenka, the No. 1 player in the world, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 to capture her first U.S. Open title since 2008 and the 15th Grand Slam title of her career. She won 18 of the match's final 26 points and prevailed after two hours and 18 minutes, the longest women's final since 1981.
Serena Williams after winning the U.S. Open on Sunday. The U.S. Open has been starved for entertaining women's finals lately, but this was one of the best. It was the first to last three sets since 1995, when Steffi Graf beat Monica Seles. It will go down in the company of Graf-Seles, Hana Mandlikova's 1985 third-set-tiebreaker win over Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin's 1981 win over Navratilova, which went two hours and 40 minutes.
Williams lost in a shocking upset here last year to Samantha Stosur and was ousted in memorable fashion in 2009, when she was called for a foot fault in the final game and berated a lineswoman. She said she thought this Open might escape her, too.
"I really was preparing my runner-up speech, because I thought, 'Man, she's playing so great,'" Williams told the crowd.
Azarenka, who won the Australian Open this year, covered her face in a towel and cried after the defeat. She had played steady and, at times, brilliant tennis for most of the final two sets, but unraveled when she tried to close out the match.
Ahead 5-4, she lost three points on unforced errors. She lost the last three points of the match with missed groundstrokes, after she was one point from forcing a third-set tiebreaker.
1 Azarenka managed to put on a smile as she accepted her runner-up trophy. "I definitely gave it all today," she told the crowd. "Stepping out of the court today I will have no regrets."
At the French Open this year, Williams lost in the first round, something she had never done at a Grand Slam tournament in her career. Since then, she has been nearly invincible.
She started slowly at Wimbledon, rounded into form and won the singles title and the doubles title with her sister Venus. At the London Olympics, she barely broke a sweat in winning gold medals in singles and doubles.
Sunday, Williams won the first three games of the match and looked ready to deliver yet another rout. She had lost just 19 games in six matches headed
into the final.
Serena Williams of the U.S. posed with her trophy after she defeated Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in their women’s finals match at the U.S, Open tennis tournament in New But Williams began to miss early in the second set, York Sunday. and the match became a game of rallies—exactly what Azarenka loves. Azarenka has perhaps the most finely tuned groundstrokes in women's tennis, and she covers the court well. She moved Williams laterally and sneaked into the net at opportune times for winning volleys.
Williams, 30, will be ranked No. 4 on Monday, but that is meaningless. She is the world's best player, and one of the most resilient.
How's this for staying power: This was Williams' fourth U.S. Open title, and it came 13 years after her first. That is a longer gap from first to latest at a single Grand Slam than any woman in history. And there could be more to come.
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