Serena Williams well on course for her fourth US Open title – Tennis Special: Part One
Former world number one, Serena Williams, is bidding for her 15th Grand Slam title at the US Open 2012, last of the four Grand Slam events taking place in Queens, New York City.
Coming off from almost a whole year off due to injuries, the American icon recreated her old magic in the end of the last season in Flushing Meadows and carried her rhythm this circuit. She conquered four tournaments and went on
a 17 match winning streak at the clay season this year. Mustering her performance further, Williams captured her fifth Wimbledon, third of the four Grand Slam events held in London, title last month and is unstoppable at the moment.
The American number one is a runner-up at the US Open, a major hard court tournament. She devastated her entire opponents en route to the final showdown at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center last season. Williams
entered the event standing at the 29th rank and after stunning several seeded opponents, she secured a final berth.
The American stunned fourth seeded Victoria Azarenka, former world number one Ana Ivanovic, 17th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and top seeded Caroline Wozniacki before setting up a date with Samantha Stosur. Despite
bowing out to the Australian number one, Williams sent out a warning to everyone and climbed to the world number 12.
Williams started her this year campaign at the Brisbane International where she triumphed over Chanelle Scheepers and Bojana Jovanovski in straight sets before pulling out from the tournament in the quarter-finals. She made a fourth
round showing at the Australian Open (lost to Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets) before making another quarter-final appearance at the Sony Ericsson Open (lost to Caroline Wozniacki).
She cracked into the top-10 again after her performance in Miami and went berserk at the clay season which started after that. Williams went on a 17 match killing spree which saw her ruling two tournaments and jumping to the world
number five.
The American star crushed her entire rivals at the Family Circle Cup without losing a set, ultimately bagging the title with poise. She stunned second seeded Samantha Stosur in her journey towards the final.
Williams maintained her intensity at the Mutua Madrid Open, a blue clay court tournament held in Spain. She recorded a series of upset victories before bagging the trophy. The veteran lost just a single set at this event against
Wozniacki and shocked Maria Sharapova and Azarenka before earning the limelight.
Williams stated in a press conference after clicking title at the Mutua Madrid Open:
"My whole thing is to play consistently. That's what I've done the last couple weeks - and doing what I do best, which at the end of the day is playing tennis. I belong on a tennis court. That's where I feel amazing. I absolutely
love clay. I grew up on clay - I played on hard court until I was 11, then until I turned 16 I only played on clay courts. I actually love the clay but my results haven't been stellar. I have won the French Open and lots of clay court tournaments, though.
I like it more than grass, which is weird."
The 30-year-old breezed past her rivals at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia and secure a final four berth before withdrawing from the tournament.
Regardless of her flawless performance on the clay courts, Williams crashed out to the local competitor, Virginie Razzano, from the opening round at the Roland Garros.
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