After losing two games in the Semifinal on Saturday, Serena Williams lost only one game in her 6-0, 6-1 win over Lucie Safarova, to win her 40th singles title. This was the first time Williams returned to Charleston since she won here in 2008. The first set was closer than the score indicated, partly because Williams had to save four break points, while Safarova only saved one of four break points on her serve. There was loud applause from the crowd and a big smile from Safarova when she was able to hold serve for the first and only time in the tenth game of the match.
Safarova, much like Samantha Stosur on Saturday, was not too upset over her defeat to Williams. "You kind of still try to fight, to dig in and wait for opportunity if it opens to the match. But today Serena was really on her top. She was killing everything, and it's just how it is in tennis. She's a champion. She's a great player and she deserved to win. She was better," Safarova said.
Two breadsticks and two bagels were served Saturday to the two losing singles semifinalists. It took barely two hours in total for Serena Williams to defeat Samantha Stosur, 6-1, 6-1, and for Lucie Safarova to beat Polona Hercog, 6-0, 6-0.
New Milestone
Williams crossed the $35 million threshold for career prize money with her win over Stosur on Saturday. She was already at the top of the All-Time Prize money list going into the match.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
One of the reasons Williams played so well, according to her post-match interview, was because she has a lot of respect for Stosur's game. "She has a Grand Slam under her belt, and she beat me in the final of that and played unbelievable, but I think when you're playing someone like her, you have to play well or you're going to lose," Williams said.
Friday's singles quarterfinals featured five former Family Circle Cup champions: Sabine Lisicki, Nadia Petrova, Samantha Stosur, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
Finish What We Started
On Friday, the temperature dropped 30 degrees Fahrenheit from Thursday, leaving conditions very cold and cloudy for most of the quarterfinals action. Stosur and Galina Voskoboeva began the days plat, continuing their third round match, which was delayed due to thunderstorms Thursday night. Stosur maintained her break advantage in the first set and managed an early break in the second set. The Australian then had a break point to go up 4-1 in the second set, but Voskoboeva managed to hold, causing a shift in the match. Voskoboeva started playing with more confidence and hitting more winners while Stosur began playing more tentatively. Stosur regained her form in the third set, however, and returned to serving well and finishing points at the net, winning the set, and match, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
