Serena: I_Ñém playing some of my best tennis

 

Originally published on: 07/01/13 00:00

The off-season did nothing to halt Williams’ run of form with the American picking up in 2013 where she left off in 2012 – winning. The 31-year-old rolled to victory without dropping a set in her first tournament of the season in Brisbane, beating her off-season hitting partner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final 6-2, 6-1.

The win at the Brisbane International was Williams’ 47th WTA title – the most among active players – and the 15-time Grand Slam champion has now won 35 of her last 36 matches.

"I was looking at a lot of old matches on YouTube and I feel like right now I'm playing some of my best tennis,” said Williams. “I feel like I want to do better and play better still, and I've always felt like I could play better.”

“It was a really good week in Brisbane, for sure,” she added. “I definitely worked hard for this week, and I'm going to do a little more work so I can be ready [for Melbourne].”

Pavlyuchenkova, who jumped to world No.24 after the tournament, will be happy with her standard of tennis in the Queensland capital. The 21-year-old trained in Mauritius with Williams during the off-season and the benefits could be seen in her play throughout the tournament.

“I always feel like I don't know how to play tennis when I play against you [Serena],” the Russian joked after the game. “But I think it's cool we had a final together here in the first week of the season after our preparation in the off-season."

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