(Rank/Seed)
(4/4) Serena Williams came through a gripping 3 set tussle with (1/1) Victoria Azarenka to win her 15th Grand Slam title. I had predicted that Serena would stroll through, and for a while it appeared she would, but Azarenka came back firing. She just missed out, failing to serve it out, losing 62 26 75!
1st Set
Williams was in control from the off, breaking Azarenka in the 2nd game and as she served to stay in the set. Williams was too strong on the return and Azarenka appeared nervous
2nd Set
A small lack of concentration led to Azarenka breaking Williams in the 1st game and used extra crowd support to buoy her to a 5-1 lead as Williams hit too many unforced errors. Williams was hitting the ball too hard and flat and Azarenka returned better
3rd Set
Pushing Williams to a 3rd set for the first time since 2010 and as the 1st player to do it all tournament, Azarenka carried the advantage. An early trade of breaks followed, until Azarenka broke an erratic Williams again in the 7th game. After holding her serve, Williams served to stay in the match at 3-5 and responded brilliantly from 30-30 to hold. Azarenka appeared nervous whilst serving for the match and couldn't extend the points. Williams was back for good and took control and despite Azarenka holding two points to take the match into a tiebreak, Williams converted her 1st match point as Azarenka's backhand sailed long
The stats surrounding this match go on and on; Serena holds the longest gap between 1st and most recent Grand Slam titles, now a span of 13 years, Serena's the 1st 30+ Grand Slam winner since Navratilova in 1987, this was the 1st US Open women's final to go to 3 sets since 1995 etc. What really is important is how good an advert the match was for women's tennis; a brilliantly competitive performance from the current number one and the woman many believe to be the world's best. One things for certain though; next time Azarenka will be out for revenge
* As a Brit, I have to mention Andy Murray's success in the men's singles, backing up his Olympic gold medal with his 1st Grand Slam title. He beat Djokovic 76(10) 75 26 36 62 to become the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry's success at the US Open in 1936
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