World number one Serena Williams won her first Cincinnati Open title on Sunday after defeating Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-1. After six tries, the American finally won this Premier 5-level tournament. She came close a year ago but lost in a third set tiebreaker to Victoria Azarenka.
Both players came from scintillating three-set matches the day before with Williams overcoming Caroline Wozniacki and Ivanovic saving two match points en route to defeating Maria Sharapova. However, the final was a bit anticlimactic with Williams completing taking control of the match late in the first set until the conclusion.
“It’s been a great week for me in Cincinnati,” Ivanovic said. “I really want to congratulate Serena. I think I got a lesson on how to serve today. Maybe after you retire you can give me some tips!”
“Congratulations to Ana – she’s such a great champion and such a wonderful, wonderful young lady,” Williams said. “It’s so good to see wonderful women like her leading our tour right now.
“It’s just amazing to finally win here. The fans were amazing and it’s so wonderful to be here.”
The Cincinnati title is Williams’ fifth trophy of the year and her 62nd carer WTA title. The win will propel her ranking in the year-long WTA Finals Road to Singapore standings to number three – overtaking last week’s Rogers Cup champion Agnieszka Radwanska. However, she will remain number one in the WTA rankings.
Williams will now look forward to the US Open which begins in a week’s time. The defending champion will have a chance to break her own record a year ago in terms of prize money win. Williams, alongside Rafael Nadal, each won $3.6 million in prize money after winning the US Open Series and the US Open last year. By virtue of reaching the semifinals this week, Williams secured the US Open Series title and wil lnow have the chance to play for a $4 million payday in New York.
In doubles, Racquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears won the title after winning their match via retirement 6-1, 2-0 versus Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic
