Serena wins fourth title of 2014 in Stanford

 

Originally published on 04/08/14

The American, who suffered a third-round defeat to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon before struggling with a virus that forced her to default her doubles match with sister Venus at SW19, bounced back to defeat Angelique Kerber 7-6(1) 6-3.

Playing in her first tournament since recovering from her illness, Williams came from a set down to beat Ana Ivanovic in the quarter-finals and showed similar resolve to come from 1-5 down in the first set against Kerber.

World No.8 Kerber, who saved match point against Varvara Lepchenko in the semi-finals, looked to be firmly on course to take the opening set, but Williams roared back, thanks largely in part to 37 winners to clinch a straight-sets victory.

"When I was down 1-5, I was just thinking I had to take it one point at a time," Williams said. "I knew I just had to relax and not be so crazy. Up until that point I wasn't doing what I wanted to do, and what I had been doing in practice, so I knew I just had to start doing the right things going forward.

"I feel like I'm on the right track again. I feel like I can play even better – I wasn't serving my best, and I wasn't making as many winners off the return as I wanted to, but I think I'm getting there."

Williams now heads to Canada for the defence of her Rogers Cup title in Montreal. She is also scheduled to play the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati ahead of the US Open, where she is also defending champion.

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