Serena Williams accomplished a three-for-one special on Thursday night in Miami.
She leveled her career record against her sister at 10-10, saved her world No. 1 ranking and reached the final at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open.
As the defending champion, Serena Williams needed to reach the final to have enough points to stay ahead of No. 2 Dinara Safina. Although Safina lost early, she still had a chance to debut in the top spot on Monday.
Venus Williams was disappointed to lose to her sister, even though it meant that Serena could hold onto the number one ranking.
“Even though she’s my sister, I’m still here to win the matches,” Venus said. “So I’m disappointed that I lost tonight, whether or not she kept the ranking or not.”
Serena Williams will play young Top 10 newcomer, Victoria Azarenka, in the final on Saturday. They last faced each other in January at the Australian Open where Azarenka led Serena by a set before she was forced to retire because of heat exhaustion.
“She played me well and really, really tough in Australia,” Serena said. “I didn’t serve well. I just remember I didn’t serve well that day at all. Hopefully I can serve a little better.”
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
Congrats!
Overall, decent match with some great points, but not their best at all. Neither found rhythm early on, but based on their form going into this, it’s not surprising.
Third set showed how Serena has developed though.