Business Standard

Serena Williams becomes fifth player to join 200-week No. 1 club post Stanford win

Image

ANI Washington

Despite continuous struggles to make an impact this year, world number one Serena Williams has said that she is on the right track after she claimed victory at Stanford on Sunday.

The American tennis ace won the Bank of the West Classic tournament for the third time, fighting back from a horror start to defeat German world number seven Angelique Kerber 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in the final in California.

The victory not only gave Williams a WTA Tour-leading fourth title this season, but also helped her become just the fifth player to be ranked No. 1 for 200 weeks or more since the women's standings began in 1975, CNN reported.

 

Having failed to make it past the first week at Wimbledon and the French Open, and losing in the last 16 at the season's opening grand slam in Melbourne, Williams is now seeking to resurrect her season by retaining her U.S. Open title next month.

Williams said that her success in New York would definitely make up for her disappointing year so far, but it wouldn't make it go away.

She said that she feels like she is on the right track again and like she can play even better. Williams said that she wasn't serving her best, and wasn't making as many winners off the return as she wanted to, but now she thinks that she is getting there.

Williams now has 61 career titles, 39 behind third-ranked Steffi Graf on the all-time list.

However, the American is only five grand slams behind the German's record of 22, the report added.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Aug 05 2014 | 2:27 PM IST

Explore News