Singles – Final: (1) Serena Williams def. (10) Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-3
This was a case where you really didn’t have to see the match to imagine what happened. You *knew* Serena Williams would produce most of the power, and end most of the points one way or the other, and that Caroline Wozniacki would get lots and lots of balls back until Serena hit either a winner or an error. That raised a fair chance that most of Wozniacki’s games would come on breaks — and so it proved. In the first half dozen games, we had five breaks (three for Serena, two for Wozniacki) plus one Serena hold. After that, Wozniacki earned a few holds, but Serena remained in control. Wozniacki was credited with only *one* winner off the ground in the whole match!
That’s six U. S. Opens for Serena (including three in a row). And it’s eighteen total Slams, tying Serena with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert for second place in the Open Era. It seems likely that she can reach sole #2 before she retires. Whether she can make it to #1 is left as an exercise for the reader.
It will tell you something about this event that Serena won it without facing a Top Ten opponent — Wozniacki, at #11, and #12 Flavia Pennetta were the only Top Fifteen players she faced. At the last Slam of 2014, only one top player really stood up. And it was Serena.
For Serena, this has no immediate rankings effect — after all, she was already #1! But her relatively slow spring and early summer meant that she came here a mere #3 in points this year. (And she had been far lower earlier in the year.) With this, she’s back on top. She hasn’t clinched the year-end #1. But she now has a substantial lead — and most of the players close behind her seem to prefer more traditional surfaces. Serena clearly has the inside track for the #1 ranking.
Caroline Wozniacki remains Slam-less. But at least she made it back to a final. And she made it back to the Top Ten; we show her at #9. If nothing else, she clearly is a factor again. It won’t make up for losing a Slam. But it’s quite an improvement over the last couple of years!
Rankings
Estimated WTA Rankings As of September 7, 2014
Rank &
Prior
Rank Name Points
1 (1) SWILLIAMS 9430*
2 (2) HALEP 6160
3 (4) KVITOVA 5926
4 (6) SHARAPOVA 5575
5 (5) ARADWANSKA 5380
6 (3) Li 5270
7 (8) BOUCHARD 4545
8 (7) KERBER 4400
9 (11) WOZNIACKI 4305
10 (9) IVANOVIC 3855
11 (10) JANKOVIC 3655
12 (14) ERRANI 3215
13 (13) CIBULKOVA 3007
14 (15) SAFAROVA 2965
15 (18) MAKAROVA 2845
16 (12) PENNETTA 2651
17 (19) PETKOVIC 2525
18 (16) SUAREZ NAVARRO 2420
19 (20) VWILLIAMS 2370
20 (21) STOSUR 2110
21 (39) PENG 1905
22 (23) CORNET 1900
23 (22) KUZNETSOVA 1860
24 (17) AZARENKA 1813
25 (25) PAVLYUCHENKOVA 1775
26 (26) MUGURUZA 1743
27 (24) STEPHENS 1690
28 (27) KEYS 1670
29 (32) DELLACQUA 1621
30 (29) ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA 1601
Topics: 18th slam, Caroline Wozniacki, Serena Williams, Tennis, US Open
@serenawilliams WINS THE @usopen & THE BONUS MONEY & HER 18th SLAM!!! SHE BEATS “BESTIE” @CaroWozniacki 3 & 3 http://t.co/sUZu0yEgCU #tennis