Serena Williams defeats Maria Sharapova to claim the championship title – Mutua Madrid Open 2013
In the battle for the world number one spot, the American veteran, Serena Williams, took the better of the Russian beauty queen, Maria Sharapova. The top seeded American defeated Sharapova in the title match of Mutua Madrid Open
tournament on Sunday to claim the 50th WTA championship trophy of her career. The reigning world number one settled the final scores at 6-1, 6-4, to achieve the milestone.
Belligerent Williams was on a 11-match winning streak against the Russian blonde prior to the Sunday’s final and her triumph gave her a 13-2 lead in the all-time head-to-head series. The 31-year-old veteran has been in her prime
form since the last season and Sharapova hasn’t been able to pose any resistance in her path. The same happened this weekend when the 26-year-old Russian was brutally manhandled by the power hitting of Williams. The American number one raced through the opening
set with a breadstick and then cruised through the following set to bag her 31st victory of the running season.
"I started the match really slow today, and against an opponent like her you just can't give her that because she plays extremely well when she's confident," Sharapova said afterwards. "I wasn't reacting well, I wasn't moving well
- obviously not only the double faults that I made, but I also didn't have a lot of great first serves in. There were a lot of things I could have changed out there on the court. I had that break in the second set, but I wasn't able to go with it and hold
it. But starting the match like that isn't going to get me anywhere, so that's something I wish I could have changed today."
Williams was off to a flyer in the opening set and nailed two back-to-back break points to fly away to 4-0 in no time. Before Sharapova could get her eye set in the game, the world number one had flown away with the first set at
6-1.
Sharapova broke Williams in the very first game of the following set and it appeared as if the contest would go neck-to-neck from that point. However, two cracking breaks of serves from Williams in the sixth and 10th
games pulled the curtains for Sharapova in the end. The American veteran finished off the match at 6-4 to sustain her world number one rank in the WTA Premier Rankings.
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