Serena books Finals place in record time

SERENA WILLIAMS has added yet another record to her glittering CV by becoming the earliest qualifier for the end-ofseason WTA Finals.

The Australian and French Open champion, who is bidding for a calendar grand slam, booked a spot at the eight-woman championship in Singapore in October courtesy of her third-round win over Britain’s Heather Watson.

“I’m really thrilled to be the first player to qualify for the WTA Finals and I can’t wait to return to Singapore to defend my title,” said Williams today. “Last year was my first time visiting Singapore and I really enjoyed myself — the crowd is amazing and I’m excited to be going back.”

The 33-year-old American has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles and trails only Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24) in the all-time list.

She had held the top spot in the rankings for 124 consecutive weeks and was the oldest woman to hold the position since the rankings were introduced in 1975.

The WTA said Williams was the fastest qualifier for their championship since the format was revamped in 2003. (13) A Radwanska (Pol) v (28) J Jankovic (Ser), (9) M Cilic (Cro) v D Kudla (US), K Skupski (GB) & J Konta (GB) v (8) D Nestor (Can) & K Mladenovic (Fra) V Pospisil (Can) v (22) V Troicki (Ser), (23) V Azarenka (Blr) v (30) B Bencic (Swi), (13) J Murray (GB) & J Peers (Aus) v (3) V Pospisil (Can) & J Sock (US) O Govortsova (Blr) v (21) M Keys (US), (15) T Bacsinszky (Swi) v M Niculescu (Rom), (1) B Bryan (US) & M Bryan (US) v M Pavic (Cro) & M Venus (Nzl)