Tennis, Serena Williams | featured news

Serena Williams kept telling herself she was facing just another foe in the Wimbledon final Saturday, just another woman who hits the ball quite hard, just another player trying to deny her a Grand Slam title.

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It was the women’s match of this Wimbledon, brimming with baseline power and lunging defense, and the surprise was that Serena Williams was just one point from losing it to Elena Dementieva.

AP - Serena Williams was sure the ball went off her opponent's arm, a no-no in tennis. The opponent, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, insisted the ball went off her racket. Williams accused Martinez Sanchez of "cheating." Martinez Sanchez thought that was a "stupid" thing for Williams to say.

Serena Williams still rates herself as the best player in the world even though she has been toppled from the top spot by Russia's Dinara Safina.

Top-ranked Serena Williams lost the first five games then rallied to reach the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open, where she awaited a possible matchup against her sister on Wednesday.

Serena Williams got no argument from Dinara Safina as she rolled to her fourth Australian Open singles title and 10th Grand Slam singles title by the score of 6-0, 6-3.

The Australian Open women’s final will be a match between Serena Williams and Dinara Safina for the trophy and the No. 1 ranking in the world.