SUNDAY saw the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships take place in Doha. The match saw Venus Williams , last year's Doha champion, taking on her sister Serena Williams who, having done better in the competition than Dinara Safina , was the new world number one.
Serena went into the final having not lost a game yet. She comfortably beat Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova and saved a match point against her sister in the round robin stage. Venus on the other hand did struggle a little in the group stages. She suffered a shock defeat in her opening game losing to Dementieva and when she lost to Serena, it looked as though the reigning champion might not qualify for the semi finals.
Venus beat Kuznetsova in her final group game, but she had to rely on other results to determine whether or not she would advance in the tournament.
Venus can have Kuznetsova to thank for her place in the semi as the French Open champion defeated her compatriot Elena Dementieva to deny the Russian a place in the semis and send Williams through along with her sister.
The semi finals turned out to be comfortable for the Williams sisters, more so for Serena as she raced to a one set lead against the 19- year old Dane, Caroline Wozniacki . Wozniacki broke Serena in the first game of the second set, but was then forced to retire with an abdominal injury, her retirement handed Serena a place in the year end final.
Venus, although advanced, struggled a little against long term rival Jelena Jankovic losing the first set. The match went to three sets but the American came out on top, just as she did against Jankovic at this stage last year.
The match between these two in the final, was their twenty third meeting. Serena led the head to head 12-10 and had won the last three encounters.
The match didn't turn out to be the classic we all expected as both women practically hobbled on to court both with their legs heavily strapped. Serena got off to the better start of the two racing into a 6-2 lead in only thirty minutes. The new world number one only dropped four points in her four service games and managed to break Venus' serve twice in what was a one sided first set.
The second set was a serving masterclass as two of the most powerful women in tennis history produced a serving display that will not be matched on the WTA tour for years to come. As a result of the quality serving, the second set saw no breaks and barely any deuces and went to a tie break.
Serena took control of that tie break as she rushed to a 5-1 lead. Venus managed to fight back a little reducing the deficit to 5-4 but with Serena serving Venus looked in a lot of trouble. The world number one served a powerful ace and hit a huge forehand winner to record the points she needed to confirm victory taking the tie break 7-4.
This victory was her second Sony Ericsson Championship, as she won the title back in 2001. Venus, who was the reigning champion now loses the head to head record between the two 13-10.
No doubt Venus will look to exact revenge against her sister in January's Australian Open. A tournament where her sister is the current champion. I don't see an all Williams final in Melbourne, but should they meet in the semis I think Venus can upset Serena.
Final Score:
Serena def Venus 6-2 7-6
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