Serena Williams battled back from the
brink of defeat to claim her 15th grand
slam title and win the U.S. Open for the
fourth time with a 6-2 2-6 7-5 victory
over world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka on
Sunday.
The American added to her 2012
Wimbledon and Olympic crowns after
being pushed to the limit by the
Australian Open champion, who forced
the 30-year-old to drop her first set of
the tournament.
"I honestly can't believe I won. I was
preparing my runner-up speech
because she was playing so well,"
Williams said courtside after the match,
which lasted two hours 18 minutes.
"I'm so shocked. It's remarkable."
It was the first time in 17 years that the
women's final went the distance in New
York, and it ended Azarenka's run of 12
successive victories in matches lasting
three sets.
"Serena deserves to win. She showed
how true a champion she is," Azarenka
said. "I definitely gave it all today.
Stepping off this court I will have no
regrets."
Williams won the hard-court tournament
for the first time as a 17-year-old in
1999, but has not enjoyed much
success since her third win in 2008.
She lost in an ill-tempered final last year
and was also fined in 2009 after being
involved in another incident during her
semifinal defeat.
The former world No. 1 won the opening
set in just 34 minutes as she
threatened to steamroller Azarenka as
she has all opponents since bouncing
back from her first-round defeat at the
French Open.
However, unlike in their Wimbledon
semifinal clash in July, her 23-year-old
opponent picked herself up and
dominated the second set with some
power play of her own.
Azarenka broke to lead 2-1 in the
deciding set but was immediately
pegged back by the fourth seed.
A break to love in the seventh game put
her in the position of serving for the title
at 5-4, but Williams rallied to win the
next three games and leave Azarenka in
tears after missing a golden chance to
win her second grand slam title.
Williams took her record in grand slam
finals to 15-4, becoming the first 30-
something to win a major since Martina
Navratilova at the 1987 U.S. Open as
she claimed the $1.9 million first prize.
It was the first time since 2002 that a
woman has won Wimbledon and the
U.S. Open in the same year, when
Williams also won the French Open.
She joined her older sister Venus and
Steffi Graf as the only women to win
Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S.
Open in the same year.
It has capped a remarkable comeback
for Williams, who spent almost a year
out of the game following her 2010
Wimbledon triumph.
She needed surgery after cutting her
foot in a freak accident at a restaurant,
and then suffered life-threatening
complications when blood clots formed
on her lungs.
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