SERENA WINS 50TH WTA TITLE IN MADRID

             

Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova to win the Mutua Madrid Open and retain her No.1 ranking. It was her 50th WTA title, making her just the 10th woman all-time to cross that milestone.

A far cry from the player who was down 4-2 third set in her quarterfinal match, Serena Williams came out blazing in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday afternoon, beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets to not only win her 50th WTA title, but retain her No.1 ranking.

Though it was a dream match-up between the Top 2 players in the world, and though Sharapova would have taken No.1 away from her with a victory, Williams was never really in trouble in the match, taking particular advantage of the angles in the rallies - time and time again she put Sharapova on the run with some acute crosscourt blasts, then went on to win the majority of those points.

Williams fell behind 3-1 early in the second set but apart from that was in control the whole time, and after the No.2-seeded Sharapova sent one last forehand long, the No.1 seed clinched it, 61 64.

Williams is now the 10th player ever to win 50 or more WTA titles. The first nine are Martina Navratilova(167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107), Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong (68), Billie Jean King(67), Lindsay Davenport (55), Virginia Wade (55) and finally Monica Seles (53).

With seven, Williams is now in third place among active players for most WTA clay court titles, tied with Sharapova and Flavia Pennetta; Venus Williams is second with nine, and Anabel Medina Garrigues - the player who was on the verge of victory against her in the quarterfinals - is first with 10.

Williams is now 28-1 on clay since the start of last year's clay court season, Sharapova 27-2.