MIAMI, Fla.—Ordinarily, when a player loses a set after leading 5-2, blame lies squarely on his or her shoulders.
But it’s a measure of just how explosive, just how dangerous, just how fearless, just how determined and just how gifted Serena Williams is that it was impossible to hold Li Na responsible for blowing a lead of that proportion in the first set of today’s WTA final on Key Biscayne.
Then, after what was once a two-break cushion turned into a hot seat, Li’s chances continued to head south until a final, unreturned Williams serve wide to the forehand side drove the final, unextractable nail into the coffin of the match. To Li’s credit, neither the first paragraph above nor the final score—7-5, 6-1—nor even the statistics suggests how gamely she resisted the fierce force that is Serena Williams.
The match ended just seconds shy of two hours. Li saved a dozen break points and, even after having that huge first-set lead yanked out of her hands, fought a spirited and often threatening guerrilla war. This was one of those matches that, instead of making you wonder where all the great women players have gone, left you shaking your head at the sheer inevitability of Serena Williams.
Li declared her intentions right off the bat, taking advantage of Williams’ difficulty finding the correct box with her first delivery. That was a confidence builder for Li, and over the ensuing games she played with impressive variety and precision.
In the fourth game, Li faced a crisis at 15-40, but she surged back with two outright winners. Williams pounded her way to another break point, but Li took care of that with an inside-out forehand winner and went on to hold for 3-1.
Mounting another assault, Williams held the next game easily. She then jumped to a 0-30 lead against serve, but once again, Li rose to the occasion. The next three points ended on Williams errors, but not before the extended, high-quality rallies that forced those misfires demonstrated Li’s mettle.