Serena Williams Reaches the Sony Open Tennis Finals for the Ninth Time

Defending champion and No. 1 seed Serena Williams reaches the Sony Open Tennis finals for the ninth time, beating Maria Sharapova of Russia in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday. The battle between the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds was at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Miami. Sharapova has been a runner up at the Sony Open five times and is yet to hold the winner’s trophy. Serena tops the list of finals winners here, having won six titles, tying her record with that of Andre Agassi. She will either play Dominika Cibulkova or No. 2 seed Li Na in the finals on Saturday.

Serena Williams admitted after the game that it was not really an easy game for her. She was actually trailing 4-1 in the first set. Sharapova seemed to be improving her game against Serena Williams. Before this event, she’s lost to Serena lost 14 times in 16 outings. It was a rivalry that started in 2004.

The first set

Sharapova worked hard in the first set, achieving an early lead, breaking Williams in the fourth game of the first set to lead by 4-1. Williams powered her way back into the set, winning five games in a row. She closed out the set with 6-4.

The second set

There was another opportunity for the No. 4 seeded Sharapova in the second set. She managed to again break Williams in the second game and had an early advantage. But the opportunity to break her losing streak against Williams seemed to again fly out the window. Serena managed to break back in the second game.

As luck would have it, there were breaks again in the seventh and the ninth games of the second set, closing out the match for the Russian.

Positive comments

Williams said after the game that her win was not a breeze. She said that Sharapova definitely played well and she had to maintain her focus and make more and better shots. Again the game between these two was dictated by the serve. Williams committed two double faults against Sharapova’s five. Williams also produced nine aces. This time, Sharapova did not have a single ace.

Men’s semifinals

Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic awaits the winner of the quarterfinals match between Canada’s Milos Raonic and Rafael Nadal of Spain. Novak Djokovic, who beat UK’s Andy Murray and Japan’s rising star Kei Nishikori, who beat Roger Federer, will play the first men’s semifinal match on Friday. The men’s finals is set for Sunday.

The Sony Open Tennis was first played in 1985 at Rod Laver’s International Tennis Resort in Delray Beach. The following year the tournament moved to Boca West in Boca Raton, Florida. Its new home is the Tennis Center at Crandon in Key Biscayne, a picture-postcard setting for one of tennis’s premium tournaments, which currently has a total prize money of $11,076,510. Singles champions will each receive $787,000.

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