French Open, Day 14: Serena Williams adds a second French Open title
The two biggest stars on the women side of the draw met in the finals of the 2013 French Open and for Serena Williams fans it went as expected.
Williams, who won her sole French Open title heading into Saturday at Roland Garros 11 years ago to the day, has been dominating opponents these last two weeks, dropping just a single set before her matchup with Maria Sharapova and that continued as she took out the defending champion 6-4, 6-4.
Serena continued to pound her serve, hitting 10 aces in two sets and winning not only 69 percent of her first serves, but 77 percent of her second serves. Her start was a bit surprising, going down 0-2 in the first set, but Sharapova couldn't get any rhythm with her serve as Williams continued to jump on anything that was hit her way.
At one point in the match, Sharapova hit her hardest serve of the match only to see it pounded back past her feet for a Serena winner.
Williams has now won 16 Grand Slams including two French Open titles and became the oldest player since tennis turned professional to reign supreme at this event. Clay has never been the preferred surface of Williams, but new coach Patrick Mouratoglou, a Frenchman himself, has helped improve her overall game and it showed at Roland Garros.
Serena now can realistically look at catching and passing Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on the Grand Slam titles list as she only needs two more majors to tie their 18 and three to pass them, and as long as she stays healthy it seems she can definitely contend at any slam for the next two or three years. Tennis is not a game for the aging, but Serena looks as good as she has ever looked, and her commitment these days to being the best shows that history is something she's interested in making.
Wimbledon is just a few short weeks away, and Williams has won there five times including last year. Take a wild guess who the favorite will be on grass?
It was also a good day for the Bob and Mike Bryan, better known as the Bryan Brothers, who won their second doubles French Open title and first since 2003, defeating Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7).
"I love Paris," Serena Williams said. "I spend a lot of time here. I live here. I practice here. I think I am a Parisian."
The lone match left of note at the French Open is the all-Spanish final between Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer.
The match, which kicks off at 9 AM ET on Sunday, features a seven-time champion here versus a guy that has never played in a Grand Slam final, and the stats back up the major difference between the two.
Nadal is 19-4 in his career for Ferrer, including a 16-1 record against him on clay, with the lone loss coming all the way back in 2004. The favorite is obviously Nadal to win his 12th Grand Slam, but Ferrer is coming in a bit rested after his three-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as Nadal was forced to go five against Novak Djokovic.
