Serena sweats out her 20th Slam title
PARIS — What started out as a stroll became quite a struggle for Serena Williams.
After going up by a set and two breaks in the French Open final Saturday, she double-faulted away that lead. Then, suddenly, she trailed in the third set.
As the tension thickened, Williams was warned by the chair umpire for cursing loudly. She even felt the need to hit one shot left-handed.
But when Williams plays her best, no one is better. Putting aside a lingering illness, a mid-match lull and a feisty opponent, Williams won her third French Open title and 20th Grand Slam singles trophy by beating 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2.
“I got so frustrated. I was just so angry at myself. I pretty much gave the match away,” the No. 1seeded Williams said, her voice scratchy and her nose stuffy. “I just had to, like, try to pull it together.”
That she did, taking the last six games and adding to her 2002 and 2013 titles on the French Open’s red clay.
“When I was a little girl in California, my father and my mother wanted me to play tennis,” Williams, 33, told the crowd in French earlier. “And now I’m here, with 20 Grand Slam titles.”
Only two players in the century-plus history of Grand Slam tennis have more: Margaret Smith Court with 24 and Steffi Graf with 22.
Williams also stretched her winning streak in majors to 21 matches, following titles at the U.S. Open in September and Australian Open in January.
She heads to Wimbledon with a chance to extend a bid to accomplish just about the only thing she hasn’t: win a calendar-year Grand Slam.
“Why not?” said her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. “That’s probably the most difficult thing to do in tennis. But it’s possible.”
No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic will face No. 8 Stan Wawrinka in the men’s final Sunday. Djokovic got past No. 3 Andy Murray 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 on Saturday in the resumption of a suspended match to stretch his winning streak to 28.