Williams secures No.1 spot without lifting a finger after rivals stumble

WITH a little help from her rivals, Serena Williams last night secured a place in the last four of the WTA Finals and clinched the year-end No.1 ranking for the fourth time in her illustrious career, writes Julian Linden.

The American was not involved in yesterday’s final group matches but still emerged as the winner after Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic both bowed out of the tournament despite winning their final matches.

Sharapova, who needed to win the season-ending event to overtake Williams at the top of the rankings, had to defeat Poland’s Agnieska Radwanska in straight sets to reach the semi-finals. However, Sharapova blew her chances in the second set.

She squandered three match points and a 5-2 lead to lose the second set in a tiebreak and, although she recovered to win the match 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, the 27-year-old failed to make it out of the round-robin stage of the elite eight-woman event.

“It would’ve been very easy for me to get down on myself. I had so many chances being up, having match point, and just saying you know what? I’ve lost two matches,” said Sharapova. “[It would have been] so easy to let it go but I didn’t. I got the job done. I know I’m not moving forward, but I’m proud of that effort and to finish the year off on this way.”

Williams, who won two of her three group matches, faced another anxious wait before knowing whether she would play on the weekend. Ivanovic had the chance to leapfrog the American in the group standings, but had to beat Romania’s Simona Halep in straight sets.

After coming from 5-2 behind to win the first set in dramatic fashion, Ivanovic had the momentum but she was unable to finish off Halep in the second, and had to settle for a 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3 consolation victory. “It’s mixed emotions, obviously,” said the Serb.

Williams will play her good friend Caroline Wozniacki in the last four in a rematch of last month’s US Open final, after the Dane romped to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Wozniacki’s lopsided victory also gifted a place in the semis to Radwanska, who edged out Kvitova and Sharapova on a countback after the trio all finished with 1-2 win-loss records.

Radwanska said she would take Wozniacki out on a shopping spree to thank her for keeping her in the tournament and Wozniacki joined in the irreverent mood by saying she had already picked out her gift. “She owes me a handbag. I think that’s what I’m going to go for,” she said.

Like Wozniacki, Halep was safely through to the semis already, before she took on Ivanovic and had nothing to lose. She faces Radwanska in the last four. Had the Romanian lost her second set to Ivanovic, she would have knocked out Williams, but said the idea never entered her head. “I’m not afraid again to play Serena.”