Serena Williams captured her second title in as many tournaments with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Samantha Stosur that should ensure she will be seeded for the U.S. Open.
The match could have been billed as a serving duel between the two best servers in the womenâs game. But both women produced a lackluster service display by their own high standards, serving at 54 and 56 percent, respectively, and while Serena produced nine aces, that number skewed by the fact that four of those came in a topsy-turvy game as Williams served for the championship. The match was decided predominantly by first-strike accuracy, and despite a slow start, Williams was never about to lose that battle.
Stosurâs record in finals is, notoriously, not greatâafter today's loss, she is two for 11 in finalsâbut to her credit, she came out firing, looking for her enormous forehand more than usual. Stosur creditably held her own against a muted Williams in the first set, and probably played the better tennis, but as we have seen throughout Serena's career and comeback, she retains the championâs ability to produce the definitive moment of magic when necessary. At 4-4 in the first set, with Stosur serving and leading 40-15, Williams hit three clean and magnificent returns of serve in a row. Stosur saved one break point, only for Williams, off-balance and behind the baseline, to produce a scorching backhand up the line on the next. Without ever having needed to go beyond her comfort zone, Serena effortlessly stole the set out from underneath Stosur in profoundly demoralizing fashion.
Stosur has been suffering from tendonitis in her left wrist, which hampered her noticeably in her last match against Agnieszka Radwanska, and after the loss of today's first set, it seemed to affect her on both wingsâmaking it difficult to hit her backhand accurately, and causing her to press too much on her forehand, in an attempt to protect the backhand. For whatever reason, she quickly descended into error-strewn territory as Williams won her fifth straight game to go 2-0. It was really a case of mopping up from there, and despite a slight wobble when serving for the matchâafter serving consecutive aces, Williams missed three relatively easy second shots to give up a break pointâshe struck her ninth ace of the match sealed her second Rogers Cup victory.
Serena hopped and bounded with joy from the baseline to the net to shake hands and collect the âcuteâ racquet-shaped trophy she claimed to have been wanting for years. It feels like she doesnât even need to play in Cincinnati to be at peak condition for New York. After just four tournaments back on tour, physically and mentally revitalized by her enforced break, she leads the U.S. Open Series, has reclaimed her unofficial âbest player in womenâs tennisâ title and is indisputably the favorite for Flushing Meadows. Next to that, the Rogers Cup trophy is merely a cipherâbut a cute one.
âHannah Wilks