No. 1 seed Serena Williams defeated No. 2 seed Victoria Azarenka, 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, to win the 2013 U.S. Open championship. It’s the fifth U.S. Open title of her career and her second in a row.
Serena Williams wins 2013 U.S. Open women’s title
The undisputed No. 1 woman in the world held off No. 2 Victoria Azarenka to win her fifth career U.S. Open title.
Matthew Stockman
Azarenka got off to an early lead in the first set, matching Williams blow-for-blow and trying to frustrate the American. Williams fought back though, using her trademark aggression and pinpoint accuracy to overwhelm the Belarusian. Williams converted a late break chance to win the set, 7-5.
In the second set, Williams showed off the same dominance we’ve come to expect in this tournament, burying Azarenka with multiple aces and powerful winners. Azarenka did herself no favors, hitting two double faults in a row to lose serve and go down 4-1 in the set.
Azarenka mounted a comeback, breaking Williams twice to get to 5-5, but was unable to hold her own serve on the next game. Williams, now up 6-5, missed the chance to win the match, dropping her own serve with a double fault to send the set to a tiebreaker. Azarenka battled to win the tiebreaker, 8-6, to force a third set while Williams looked visibly frustrated.
In the third set, Azarenka continued to make mistakes, with Williams jumping out to a 4-1 lead. She went on to finish off her opponent in dominant fashion in the final set, 6-1, and secured the title after a marathon match that took nearly three hours.
Williams is now 17-4 in Grand Slam final matches and took home her second slam title of the year. She previously won the 2013 championship at Roland Garros, better known as the French Open. Though she beat Williams in the final of the Cincinnati Open, a U.S. Open warm up, just a couple weeks ago, Azarenka has yet to defeat Williams in a Grand Slam match, now falling to 0-8 in her career.
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