OOH LA LA!
Serena takes the French Open
THE CHAMP: Serena Williams celebrates winning the French Open yesterday, her 20th grand slam title SERENA Williams won her 20th grand slam title and third French Open crown at Roland Garros yesterday, clawing her way back from a break down in the last set to defeat Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-7 (2/7) 6-2.
In what was a disjointed affair, the American was coasting to a straight-sets win, a set and 4-1 up against the Czech 13th seed, who was in her first grand slam final.
But a combination of serving woes for Williams and some top play from Safarova forced a third set, the fifth of the tournament for the No 1.
She fell 0-2 down in that, but recovered her composure in the nick of time to rattle off six games in a row for the title.
With 20 grand slam titles, Williams is now second on the Open-era list, two shy of Steffi Graf. She is also now halfway to winning all four grand slam titles in the same year, a feat previously achieved by just three other women, the last being Graf in 1988.
For Safarova, who reached the final without dropping a set, the consolation will be her debut in the world top 10, at No 7. And she has the women’s doubles final to follow today, playing with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Williams had struggled with a bout of flu, needing four times to fight back from a set down just to reach the final.
But after two days of “rest and therapy”, she came out looking somewhat refreshed as she stared fixedly at the ground between points. She played well within herself on serve, taking pace off her first ball and then allowing Safarova an easy hold to level.
But she upped the pace suddenly in the fourth game, taking the first break of the match with a scorching forehand cross-court winner.
Safarova top-edged two returns high up into the crowd as Williams continued to crank up the pressure, but the Czech player stayed in touch with a hold for 4-2.
Williams let out two loud “c’mons” as she held serve for the fourth straight time to make it 5-2, and two games later the first set was in the bag in just 31 minutes. Safarova had failed to muster a single break-point.
Williams had never failed to win a grand slam title on the 17 occasions she had taken the first set, and she honed in on another straight-sets victory by breaking serve to open the second and then holding to love.
Safarova had a mountain to climb as the crowd tried to rally her, but another service loss saw her fall 4-1 behind.
Out of the blue, though, Williams suddenly flung the Brno-born player a lifeline, double-faulting twice to drop serve. Two games later, she was undone again by some loose shot-making and another double-fault. Against all the odds and to general surprise, Safarova was level at 4-4.
Williams served for the match at 6-5 after another break, but Safarova produced her best tennis to force the tiebreak, which she won easily.
Safarova, 28, moved 2-0 up in the third before Williams resurfaced, taking six games in a row for the win.
At 33 years and 254 days, Williams is just nine days younger than was Martina Navratilova, who became the oldest Open-era grand slam winner at Wimbledon 1990.
She will now switch her focus to Wimbledon, which starts in three weeks. A title win would give her all four grand slam crowns, a feat she previously achieved when she won the Australian Open in 2003. — ©