Serena is Back

The lone women's clay court event in the US was contested last week, on the green clay of Charleston, South Carolina.  Serena Williams overwhelmed the field, especially from the semis on, and shows that she is a major contender again and must even be reckoned with on the clay.  While the biggest names on tour were absent, this was still an extremely impressive result for Serena, especially looking at the statistics I quote below.

WTA Premier:  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

5) Serena Williams (USA) def. 9) Lucie Safarova (CZE) 6-0 6-1

-Serena wins 40th career title, last '11 Toronto.  It is her 2nd win at Charleston
-She lost just 3 games in her last two matches!  And did not drop a set in the tournament
-Serena improves to #9 in the world.

-Other QF:  2) Samantha Stosur (AUS)-SF, 4) Vera Zvonareva (RUS), 6) Sabine Lisicki (GER), 13) Nadia Petrova (RUS), 14) Polona Hercog (SLO)-SF, Venus Williams (USA)

-Other seeds:  1) Radwanska (w/d), 3) Bartoli (R3 l. to Hercog), 7) Jankovic (R2 l. to Venus), 8) Pavlyuchenkova (R3 l. to Petrova), 10) Medina Garrigues (R2 l. to Rodionova), 11) McHale (R1 l. to Wozniak), 12) Wickmayer (R2 l. to Shvedova), 15) Scheepers (R1 l. to Ormaechea), 16) Gajdosova (R1 l. to Voegele), 17) Erakovic (R3 l. to Serena)

-Wozniacki was the defending champ but skipped this tournament this year.  Vesnina was the losing finalist but ran into Serena in R2 (and actually took 7 games off her).

-There were no '11 quarterfinalists still around at that stage this year.

-A rough tournament for the young Americans.  They went just 2-7 with McHale, King, Falconi, and Stephens all recording first round losses.  American veteran Craybas did qualify and reach R2.
-Pavlyuchenkova beat Daniilidou to get her first win in ages.  Ormaechea continues to impress, qualifying and winning a match.