Williams Istanbul comeback floors Li
World No.1 Serena Williams won the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships for the 4th time with a strong 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 comeback victory over Li Na.
The Chinese 4th seed came out firing and a forceful backhand broke the Williams serve in the third game. A screaming backhand return winner gave Li a 4-1 lead.
Williams fended off two set points in the seventh game but 2011 French Open champion Li converted her 4th set point a game later to win her first set against the American for 4 and a half years.
Defending champion Williams saved two break points in the opening game of set two before breaking Li at the third time of asking for a 2-0 lead.
Li struck back in the fifth game and levelled at 3-3 but serving in the eighth game a double fault gave Williams three break points and Li’s forehand missed the side line a point later. Serving for the set Williams survived three break points and took her third set point.
In a competitive start to the decider Li fought off two break points only to double fault on a third and Williams had the initiative; the French Open and US Open champion roared into a 5-0 lead.
Serving for the title 32 year-old Williams cast aside five break points and riffled a backhand winner up the line on her second championship point after two hours and 9 minutes.
Stat Attack – Williams
- The World No.1 has now won 15 consecutive matches at the WTA Championships, the second longest streak after Martina Navratilova’s streak of 21 matches
- Williams’ 57th career title is her 11th crown of 2013 - the largest haul since Martina Hingis won 12 in 1997
- The American finishes 2013 with a 78-4 win-loss record the best winning percentage since Steffi Graf finished 1989 on 86-2
Stat Attack – Li
- By winning her semi-final against Petra Kvitova, Li ensured she will move to a new career high ranking of No.3 – the highest ranking ever achieved by an Asian player
- The 31 year-old now has a 7-11 record in WTA singles finals
Hsieh and Peng take Istanbul doubles crown
Wimbledon Champions Su-Wei Hsieh and Peng Shaui won the doubles title at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships. The Taiwanese/Chinese pairing defeated French Open winners Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 7-5 to maintain their perfect 9-0 record in finals.
Del Potro denies Federer again in Basel
Juan Martin Del Potro defeated Roger Federer in the final of the Swiss Indoors Basel for the second straight year.
After seven games without a break chance, Federer fired a forehand long to lose serve in the eighth game but broke back to love when Del Potro served for the set at 5-3. However it was the top seeded Argentinean who dominated the tie-break to take the lead.
Five-time champion Federer responded by bursting out to a 3-0 lead in the second and broke Del Potro again in the eighth game to level the match.
The Swiss former No.1 double faulted twice to be broken in the opening game of the decider and Del Potro held from 15-40 to lead 2-0. The 2009 US Open winner maintained the advantage and converted his second match point to win 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4 and lift his 17th career singles title.
Stat Attack – Del Potro
- It is the first time the Argentinean has reached 6 finals in a season having previously reached 5 in 2008, 2009 and 2012
- JMDP won 300th career match in the quarter finals becoming the 6th player to pass that landmark in 2013 following Nicolas Almagro, Feliciano Lopez, Jurgen Melzer, Gilles Simon and Mardy Fish
Stat Attack – Federer
- Federer was playing his 113th career singles final – his 8thconsecutively in Basel and 10th in total at the venue
Youzhny dethrones Ferrer in Valencia
Mikhail Youzhny won the Valencia Open with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over three-time champion David Ferrer 6-3, 7-5.
The unseeded Russian raced into a 5-1 lead in the first set before serving it out at the second time of asking. Top seed Ferrer responded by opening up a 4-1 lead in the second but was pegged back as Youzhny broke back in the seventh game.
The Russian, finalist in 2009, broke again to lead 6-5. In the 12th game the Russian over hit a backhand on his first match point but forced Ferrer into error on the second with a powerful backhand down the line
Stat Attack – Youzhny
- Having won Gstaad on clay it is the second time that the Russian has won multiple titles in a season after 2010 when he won Kuala Lumpar and Munich
- At No.15 Youzhny is on track to finish a fifth season in the top 20 after 2004, 2007, 2009-10
Stat Attack – Ferrer
- It is the 2nd consecutive season that Ferrer has reached 8 finals but where he had a 7-1 record in 2012 he is 2-6 this season