World number one Serena Williams squared the circle at the French Open on Saturday as she won her second Roland Garros women’s trophy 11 years after her first.
The top seed beat defending champion Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4, taking one and three-quarter hours to lift her 16th Grand Slam singles title from her 20th final at a major.
Williams finished off the competitive contest with her 10th ace then fell to her knees in disbelief. She lost in the first round a year ago.
“After 11 years it’s incredible to win it again, I’m so excited,” said Williams who addressed the Chatrier court crowd in French.
“It was a very difficult match today, I was nervous as well. To win is incredible.
“Honestly just was more relaxed this time going in. I played so well leading up to the French Open last year, I think losing in the first round definitely helped me realise I had no points to defend.
“I had nothing to lose. I was relaxed and did what I wanted to do here. My winning appetite was really high.” The match continued a trend of two-set women’s finals. The last time they went three was in 2001 when Jennifer Capriati beat Kim Clijsters. Sharapova had been trying to become the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to defend the Paris title.
The 31-year-old Williams became the oldest women’s champion at Roland Garros and improved her record over four-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova to 14-2. The Russian last beat Williams in 2004.
“She played a great match,” said Sharapova. “She played strong, she played deep, served really good; served better than I did.
“But you have to move forward. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve lost to a player or what situation I was in, or how it ended.
You move on.
“Of course I thought I earned my position to be in the final. I did put up a fight obviously today against her; it was not enough.” Sharapova made a promising start as she saved four break points to hold in the opening game. But after a 2-0 lead she was broken on a windy day where conditions played havoc with shotmaking.
Williams earned a second break for 3-2 and reached 4-2 after winning 14 of 20 points.
But Sharapova was far from done, levelling at 4-4 before Williams put over a winning cross-court shot to break for 5-4 margin and served out the opening set in 51 minutes.
The starting scenario was the same in the second set. Sharapova was tested with five break points before finally holding — only to drop serve in the third game, 1-2.
The holder played catch-up from then on and could never close the gap, with Williams winning in the end on the first of two match points.