Serena Williams Wins her 20th Grand Slam Singles Title

The reigning Women’s World No. 1, Serena Williams won her third French Open crown in an entertaining match with a 6-3, 6-7 [2], 6-2 victory over determined Lucie Safarova. The 20-Grand Slam singles title holder, who skipped practice on the day prior to the match because of recurring illness, claimed the Roland Garros title of 2015.

She is now third on the list of all-time major champions behind Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22).

On a pleasant day at Paris, the 33-year-old American started off the proceedings by breaking Safarova in the first set to comfortably seal it. Soon the World No.1 lead 6-3, 4-1 with some powerful tennis that portrayed some raw-power from the American. But, the American suddenly slumped as the 13 seeded Safarova stormed back into contention to drag the set to a tie-breaker. Safarova was helped by some poor serves from Serena and also from the error-free game of hers’.

The 28-year-old Czech went onto lead the third set 2-0; by then Serena had regained her composure to roar back in a lethal fashion as she won the next 6 games to claim her third French Open title.

Serena double-faulted 11 times and hit 42 unforced errors (25 more than Safarova), to display some inconsistency in her powerful game.

“It was complicated, Lucie played very well, she’s a superb opponent; she was very aggressive,” Serena said.

“I got a bit nervous but it’s alright, it’s a dream for me. To win the 20 Grand Slam here is special for me because I don’t always play very well here.”

She stretched her Grand Slam winning streak to 21 matches; following titles at the US open 2014 and Australian Open 2015.

But this tournament has been quite eventful for Lucie Safarova as she is to appear even in the Doubles Final. A consistent top-25 player in the circuit, found her form last year with an appearance in the Wimbledon Semi-final and coming in this tournament, she registered wins over Former Roland Garros Holders such as Sharapova and Ivanovic. She has a good, consistent and an error-free game to compete at the highest level; and would definitely look to fancy her chances this year after the break-through performances in this tournament.

“It’s been a great two weeks here for me,” said a cheerful Safarova.

“Serena, you were amazing, you are a great player and a great fighter,” she said with some appreciation.