PETE ZIEBRON
Five-time Wimbledon Champion Serena Williams Pete Ziebron Images
Serena Williams blasted 17 aces on her way to a 6-1 5-7 6-2 win over world #3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland to win her 14th career major and 5th Wimbledon title. With the victory, Williams joins her sister Venus for 3rd all-time at Wimbeldon on the WTA Tour.
Williams raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set, however Radwanska had game points in each of her first two service games. Despite being down 15-40 in the sixth game of the opening set, Radwanska steadied her game and finally got on the scoreboard. Williams then closed out the set on her serve with raindrops falling harder during the game.
The players left the court for 23 minutes as play was halted and Centre Court was covered. It was at this time that Venus Williams gave her sister some advice. According to Serena, Venus told her "You're playing good, stay calm and get your first serve in. Just tell yourself that you have the best serve."
Following the rain delay, both players held serve comfortably to begin the 2nd set. Williams then broke Radwanska at love and proceeded to hold, jumping to a 3-1 led. Each player held in the next 3 service games, Williams now led 4-3 and was 2 service holds away from winning the Championship.
Despite having 2 game points serving at 4-3, Williams was broken by Radwanska on the Polish #1's first break opportunity as Williams hit long on a forehand as raindrops fell once again. Following 3 more service holds by each player, Williams now served at 5-6 to take the 2nd set to a tiebreak. Quickly, Williams fell behind 15-40 and again, Radwanska converted immediately on the break point opportunity to take the set when Williams netted a deep backhand from the baseline in the middle of the court.
Suddenly, the Women's Championship was squared at a set apiece.
After the match, Serena Williams shared that the momentum in the match shifted at exactly this time: "I think the turning point in the 3rd set was the first point. I decided from there that I was going to play relaxed and I wasn't going to get tight or nervous and I was going to treat this as any other match."
Agnieszka Radwanska served to open the final set and struggled a bit as the game featured 3 deuces and she also needed to save a break point along the way. Williams held comfortably and again, Radwanska was in trouble at 15-40 in the 3rd game of the set. Radwanska steadied her game, won the next 4 points and took a 2-1 lead. It would be her last lead of the day as Williams firmly took control of the match going forward.
As Serena Williams got ready to serve down 1-2, sunshine blanketed Centre Court. Williams crushed an ace down the T. The next 2 points were a carbon copy of the first - 2 more aces down the T. With Williams now leading 40-love, the only 40 seconds of sunshine that the Women's Championship would see all day was gone just as quickly as it appeared. Williams capped the game with yet another ace, this time out wide giving her an even 100 aces for the tournament at that moment. The spectacular service game lasted 49 seconds in total.
Radwanska would fail to win another game in the match, Serena Williams would hit a couple more aces to finish the Championship with 102 and proceed to win her 5th Wimbledon. In her semifinal win over Victoria Azarenka, Williams hit a record 24 aces, breaking her own record of 23 which she set in her 3rd round win against Zheng Jie. With a victory today, Agnieszka Radwanska would have become the new WTA #1. Instead Radwanska will move to #2 and Serena Williams will rise to #4.
Serena's win marks the 7th different Champion in the last 7 majors played. Each player also represents a different nation:
- 2011 Australian Open Kim Clijsters - Belgium
- 2011 Roland Garros Li Na - China
- 2011 Wimbledon Petra Kvitova - Czech Republic
- 2011 US Open Samantha Stosur - Australia
- 2012 Australian Open Victoria Azarenka - Belarus
- 2012 Roland Garros Maria Sharapova - Russia
- 2012 Wimbledon Serena Williams - USA
Later on Sunday, Serena teamed with her sister Venus to win the Wimbledon Ladies Doubles Championship, 7-5 6-4 over the Czech team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. The victory was the Williams sisters 5th Wimbledon Doubles crown and their 13th Grand Slam Doubles title.
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