She’s beaten the defending champion in the quarterfinals and crushed the Australian Open 2012 titlist in the semifinals. This left little doubt in the minds of many that Serena Williams will win the title match against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska and she did, but not without a challenge.
Williams won her 14th Grand Slam singles title at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships after beating the third-ranked Radwanska 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. She now equalled her older sister Venus’ haul of five Wimbledon singles title at the All England Club with the victory on Saturday. She will rise from her current ranking of six to number four on Monday once the rankings are updated and with the way she performed in the past two weeks, she might soon find her way back at the top of the world rankings.
Williams had narrow escapes from opponents that were lower-ranked during the third and fourth round matches but elevated her game once she faced defending champion Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in the quarterfinals, winning the match in straight sets. She then set another tournament record for the most number of aces served at 24 against Australian Open 2012 titlist Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. Azarenka would have reclaimed the top ranking from 2012 French Open titlist Maria Sharapova had she won the match but Williams has other plans.
Radwanska had the opportunity to clinch the number one ranking had she won the Wimbledon title. The 2005 juniors’ titlist couldn’t find the best tactic to overpower Williams during the first set which just took 35 minutes to finish. After a thirty minute rain delay, the ladies were back to battle it out with Radwanska picking up the pace and Williams making several errors that benefited the Pole. The second set ended with Radwanska winning at 7-5 due to Williams’ four unforced errors on her serve.
The third set was a thrilling affair with Radwanska maintaining a calm composure as much as possible as she tries to fend off the powerful shots by the American but the latter was on her element this time and on one point, served four consecutive aces while down 1-2 and broke Radwanska’s serve to take the early lead at 3-2. Since then, the Pole couldn’t break back and the match ended on Williams’ favor.
With the runner-up finish, Radwanska will become world number two on Monday.
