The Hindu : Sport : Serena Williams has the last laugh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 07, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport

Serena Williams has the last laugh

Bhupathi and Knowles lose to Mike and Bob Bryan in the final

KEY BISCAYNE: Serena Williams screamed at herself, broke her racket and finally finished off Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 to win her fifth title in the Sony Ericsson Open here on Saturday.

Serena survived some shaky moments and an improbable comeback by Jankovic who trailed 5-3 in the second set. Serena closed out the contest on her eighth championship point with an overhead slam.

“I thought I had like 15 match points. I’m glad to know it wasn’t,” Serena said. “I got tight. I guess you can classify that as nervous. It’s me just feeling like ‘I’m almost there. I would hate to lose this match after being up so much.”’

Serena arrived at Key Biscayne trimmer, thanks to a recent rigorous training regimen, and needed to be in peak condition in the final. Both players held up well in the heat, and some of their best rallies — one lasting 26 shots — came in the final few games.

But, Serena also battled a bad bout of nervousness. “Serena really had trouble closing out the match,” Jankovic said. Instead, Serena won for the second year in a row and matched Steffi Graf’s record of five titles at Key Biscayne.

“The Serena and Steffi Open,” said Serena, who lives in nearby Palm Beach Gardens. “I love Steffi Graf. She’s a great champion and was my role model. To even be compared to her is awesome.”

Graf’s husband, Andre Agassi, holds the men’s record with six crowns. Bidding for this year’s men’s championship will be Rafael Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko.

Top priority

Despite Serena’s success at Key Biscayne and elsewhere, she has long been criticised for devoting too much time and energy to such interests as acting and fashion design. But tennis is now the No. 1 priority, she said. She’s 14-1 this year, her only loss coming against Jankovic in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

On Saturday, Jankovic, battling a cold, was outplayed for a set and a half, and was three points from defeat when she found her form. Serena started to spray nervous shots, lost her serve at love for 5-all, then double-faulted to lose set point and force a third set.

Even the pro-Serena crowd applauded the dogged comeback by Jankovic, who had rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to win her opening match. And there was more drama to come.

Angered by her lapse, Serena raced to a 5-0 lead in the third set but wavered again. She had her first championship point in the next game, another at 5-1 and three more at 5-2. Serena twice exhorted herself with screams but lost that game to make it 5-3, then slammed her racket against the hard court and sent the mangled remains skipping into the side wall.

Jankovic saved two more match points in the final game before Serena closed out the victory with her 51st winner. That total included 12 aces.

Serena is now 47-5 at Key Biscayne.

Tame end

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles’s quest for a third ATP title this season ended in disappointment after a straight-set loss at the hands of top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan.

The fourth-seeded Indo-Bahamas pair went down 2-6, 2-6 to the defending champion in a lopsided 53-minute final.

The win gave the Americans their first ATP title of the season. “Today was one of the best matches we played in a long time. I think the last time we played like that was against Mark Knowles in Basel in the fall, and it was 6-1, 6-1. Today was the same,” said Mike.

Too strong

The Bryans, who never faced a break point, broke Knowles twice in the opening set — in the fourth and eighth games. In the second set, Bhupathi was broken twice, also in the fourth and eighth games. Bhupathi and Knowles, who are number two in the ATP Doubles Race, came into their third ATP final of the season having won 14 of their last 15 matches.

They won back-to-back titles in Memphis and Dubai without dropping a set before their 10-match streak ended in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells to eventual champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

The results (finals): Women’s singles: Serena Williams bt Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

Men’s doubles: Mike Bryan & Bob Bryan bt Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark Knowles 6-2, 6-2. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport