Venus Williams’ title drought snapped this evening at Memphis, Tennessee with a crushing, straight sets win over Israeli Shahar Peer.
Williams, who had not won a title since Wimbledon in 2005, needed just one hour and eight minutes to blitz past Peer 6-1, 6-1 for the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & The Cellular South Cup title.
The last time that I saw Venus compete was at Wimbledon last season and it is amazing what a difference eight months can make. Unlike the few tournaments that she played in 2006, Venus is mentally back on court and hungry to dominate once again.
No doubt Serena’s win at Melbourne helped served as inspiration, and even though it was just a Tier III title, Venus’ victory today is still a big accomplishment for a player that has not competed since October.
Venus’ backhand is understandably not as strong as her forehand due to her wrist injury, but the real winner today was her serve. Peer did not even get a look at a break point and by the end of the final, Venus had racked up six aces and an 85% winning percentage on first serves.
At one stage during the match, when Venus was serving for a 4-1 lead, she fired three aces in succession. One of the trio was clocked at 126 MPH, just four MPH behind current serve record holder Brenda Schultz-McCarthy.
Despite the loss, one thing that was good to see from Peer was that even though she quickly got behind in the match, she still fought for every point until the match ended. Her aggression led her to the final and I think we’ll see better results from her as the American hard-court season continues.
She is essentially a baseline player, but she does needs to work on her net game, especially as moves up the rankings and competes more regularly against Henin, Mauresmo, Clijsters, and even Sharapova.
Aaaahhhh! Im so happy for Vee. winning the title and destroying one of the brightest rising stars of the women game in her first tournament for 4 months shows this has the potential to be agreat season for her.
I agree VenusFan. Could be the year of the Williams sisters! I miss Richard. Where is Richard!
Vic, I’m not sure how long Richard was in Memphis, but I saw him during the final.
I’m surprised at how he has been keeping a low-profile lately – especially after Serena won the AO.
It was an outstanding return to the tour by Venus. Here’s hoping she can maintain her form and fitness for the rest of the season. It would be great to have both the Williams sisters competing together again at the highest level for a long period of time.