Fantastic Serena Overpowers Safarova

Serena fought through ill health and a resurgent opponent to win her 20th single slam title and the third at Roland Garros.

An illustrious career spanning almost two decades, the world no1 is 32-1 this year and now possesses 67 career titles and improves to 20-4 in grand slam finals, the best record held by any man and woman alive.

With a 6-3 6-7 6-2 victory over Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic, she becomes the first woman in history to win three straight majors: the US Open, The Australian Open and now The French Open.

At the start of the tournament, it didn’t look as if Serena would go far, as she had bowed out in the second round last year.

Her earlier matches didn’t inspire hope, as she needed three sets to get through four matches. Her semi-final match against Timea Bacszinsky saw the no1 visibly struggling through ill health and the heat.

But she held her nerve to get through, coming from a set down. Yesterday’s final was not an easy ride either. Williams started strong, winning the first serve 6-3 and holding serve easily while showing no traces of sickness.

The second set was looking to go the same route with the American serving at 4-1 and a game away from the title. But Safarova is a fighter, if not anything, and she broke Serena and won the next three games as well to level the match at 4 all and hold serve for 5-4.

Suddenly, Serena was facing an uphill battle, but she held serve and broke Safarova in the very next game.