Serena Williams reasserted her dominance in the sport of women’s tennis with a comprehensive victory over Lucie Safarova in the final of the 2015 French Open 6-3 6-7(2) 6-2 for her 3rd French title, 2nd major title of the year and 20th overall major title. Despite illness and having to fight her way through this tournament against many resilient opponents, Williams further cements her place in the annals of tennis history. Cordell Hackshaw
The match had a rather calm opening as everyone wondered what shape Williams would be in for the final. For the past several days, she had been battling the flu which was clearly visible during her most recent practices and matches particularly in her semifinal match against Timea Bacsinszky on Thursday. However, Williams started off well enough and it was Safarova who appeared understandably tentative. The Czech was in her first major final playing against Williams, a 19-time major winner, an opponent she had never beaten in their 8 previous meetings. Safarova was broken in the 4th game as Williams showed her championships experience and took charge of the match early. Williams consolidated the break and raced out to a 5-2 lead, forcing Safarova to serve to stay in the match. Safarova faced a set point on her serve but she save it and made Williams serve out the set at 6-3 in about half an hour.
Williams’ momentum continued into the 2nd set and for a while, it looked like the match was going to be over in under an hour. Williams was up 4-1 with double game points to go up 5-1 and be a game away from her 20th major title. Safarova had come into this match without dropping a set through 6 rounds of play, she was not about to leave this tournament in straight sets. She earned her first break point of the match as Williams double faulted twice in the 6th game. Not only did Safarova break the Williams serve once, she broke it twice to go up 5-4 and force Williams to serve to stay in the set. Williams held for 5-5 and broke Safarova to serve for the match. Down 5-6, Safarova went for broke on all her shots particularly with Williams 2 points away from the match at 30-15. Safarova produced incredible winners with inch perfect accuracy and soon it was 6-6 and a 2nd set tiebreaker was needed. “My first serve abandoned me … Once she saw that I got a little tight, she started playing really a lot better,” said Williams.
Safarova was now in the ascendancy and quickly jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the breaker. One expected Williams to make a comeback at some point but it never happened in the set. Safarova took the breaker 7-2 points and carried this momentum into the 3rd set with a 2-0 lead. “I’m proud that I fought back in the second set, because it was looking like it will be an easy match. Serena was really strong out there. I just pushed myself to step up the level,” said Safarova after the match.
As for Williams, this was a regular occurrence in her matches here at the French Open, being down a set and a break. This was the fifth 3-setter Williams was playing at these championships and battling the flu, it looked as Williams’s chance at the history books was about to closed. However, this is Serena Williams who has found her way back from the brink of defeat so many times. As she did against, Azarenka in the 3rd round, Williams began her comeback and she was unstoppable.
Williams held serve for 1-2 and asked the question of Safarova of whether she could maintain the lead. Up 2-1 and 30-0, Safarova looked as though she was going to handle the pressure well but she lost 4 straight points, double faulting on break point to level the match 2-2. This slight hesitation on Safarova’s part allowed Williams back into the match and made Safarova near look pedestrian across the net. With each game that Williams won, Safarova’s confidence began to dim. “When she was on, she was just serving amazing and going for the returns, pressuring me right away … It’s just hard to do anything with that,” said Safarova.
Williams broke again for 4-2 and held serve for 5-2. Safarova who looked poised to claim her first major about 20 minutes ago up 2-0, was now serving to stay in the match, having lost 5 straight games. “I just couldn’t find any weapon that could stop her. I was trying to mix up the serve, trying to mix up the rhythm, trying to go for risk shots,” said Safarova. The pressure of facing Williams on the other side of the net proved to be too daunting for Safarova. Williams broke the Czech with a searing forehand return of serve that Safarova could not keep in play. Williams won 6-3 6-7(1) 6-2.
This is the first time a woman has captured the first two majors of the year since Jennifer Capriati in 2001. Williams has now won the last three majors stretching back to the 2014 US Open. Speaking on the match, Williams had this to say, “I got so frustrated. I was just so angry at myself. I pretty much gave the match away … I just had to, like, try to pull it together.” Williams had 34 winners and 42 errors including 11 aces and 9 double faults compared to a 16:17 ratio from Safarova. When asked if she would be partying after her win, Williams replied that she was going to bed as she was tired.
Williams has a chance at the calendar grand slam if she can win both Wimbledon and the US Open later this year. She is also 2 major wins away from Steffi Graf’s open era record of 22 major titles and 4 wins away from Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.As for Safarova, she still has a chance at winning a major title in Paris as she will play the final of the women’s doubles with her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands against the team of Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova on the final day of the tournament.
