World number one Serena Williams was simply powerful and blasted her way to her 54th career WTA Tour title on Sunday after the American defeated Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the final of the Rogers Cup 2013 in Toronto, Canada 6-2, 6-0.
Williams started the match with a 3-0 lead before Cirstea found her groove to close the gap at 3-2 but she ended up just winning those two games for the entire match with the top-ranked player winning the next nine games and the match in an hour and five minutes.
This is Williams’ third Rogers Cup title, winning the event in 2001 and 2011. With her 54-title haul, she stands alone in ninth place with the all-time WTA title hauls. The eight players above her are Martina Navratilova (167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107), Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong-Cawley (68), Billie Jean King (67), Lindsay Davenport (55) and Virginia Wade (55).
The American had great things to say to Cirstea during the trophy ceremony.
“You’re so young, I wish I was 23, don’t be sad!” Williams said to the Romanian after giving her a hug. “You’ve beaten so many top players this week and you’re really such a good player.”
Cirstea has a lot to be proud about her achievements this week, having eliminated higher ranked players along the way, in fact three top ten players – Caroline Wozniacki, defending champion Petra Kvitova and number five and last year’s runner-up Li Na. She’s projected to rise to a career high number 21 once the updated rankings are released on Monday.
