Rafa and Serena Triumph Again

I might as well as copy my post from last week and increment the title numbers by one and call it good. Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams continued their dominance over their respective tours, capping their weeks with identical 6-1 6-3 scorelines over the world's no. 3 players.

5) Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. 2) Roger Federer (SUI) 6-1 6-3

-Nadal wins his 56th career title, 6th of 2013, last '13 Madrid
-It is his 41st career clay title, moving him past Muster to 3rd all time behind Vilas and Borg
-It is just his 7th win in Rome ('05,'06,'07,'09,'10,'12)
-It is his ongoing record 24th Masters title
-He passes Ferrer and moving into the critical no. 4 ranking spot as the seeds will be set this week for the French Open.
-He now has a 15-match winning streak.

Berdych pulled a massive upset over Djokovic in the quarters, coming from 6-2 5-2 down to win in 3, but then was steamrolled by Rafa in the semis.  Paire made his first Masters semifinal and lost just one game to Granollers in the process and then gave Federer to good match in the semis.

1) Serena Williams (USA) def. 3) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 6-1 6-3

-Serena wins her 51st career title, 5th of 2013, last '13 Madrid
-It is her 2nd Rome title ('02)
-It is her 15th "Tier I" title
-She now has a 24-match winning streak, the longest of her career

Two-time defending champion Sharapova had to pull out of her quarterfinal match after coming down with a viral illness.  Halep came from a set down to take out Jankovic and become the women's surprising semifinalist in Rome and will get to no. 44 in the world with this performance.  Azarenka got a tough challenge from Stosur in the quarters as that went 3, but then she easily handled Errani.  Neither Suarez Navarro nor Halep tested Serena.

And so we head to Paris with Nadal and Serena as the favorites.  The latter will be seeking just her 2nd French Open title but the other members of the women's top 10 seem to be doing little to show that they can stop her.  They are having trouble going deep in draws themselves.  The only question mark about Nadal is whether he can overcome Djokovic, as they didn't meet in Madrid or Rome and the Serb won in Monte Carlo.  But maybe the real question to ask is if Djokovic will even be able to get to Nadal.  Federer and Azarenka have perhaps regained their form against most of the field, but the finals showed they still have a ways to against the game's elite.

I will have a French Open preview sometime in the coming week as we come around the home stretch toward the season's second major.