French tennis player Aravane Rezai (world No. 24) won the Madrid Masters
after beating her American rival, Venus Williams (world No.3), 6-2, 7-5
in one hour and 41 minutes this past Saturday in the final. This was
Rezai's third title of her career; she had won titles in 2009 in
Strasbourg and Bali. Last year, she fell in Madrid's second round. Today
she has achieved the greatest success in French women's tennis since
Amelie Mauresmo won the Wimbledon final in 2006 over Justine Henin.
Venus, who on Monday morning was in second place of the world rankings,
won the doubles title with her sister Serena after beating Argentina's
Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta of Italy. But the American couldn't play
at the same level and lost against the French in the singles final. With
a strong game and with great confidence in her service, the European
surprised the American in Madrid's clay court in a lengthy match. The
French racquet was 77 percent effective in her service, connecting two
perfect serves at 60 percent and four aces against the American
superstar. Rezai did not hesitate at any moment, showing confidence from
the start of the match. Indeed, in just three games she managed to break
Venus' service. The Frenchwoman dominated the first set, giving no
options to Williams, who was unable to react to the power of her
opponent. The world No.24 broke in the third and seventh game and won the
first set 6-2. The second set was more disputed as Williams took a
comfortable lead at 4-1, but she was unable to maintain the advantage.
When serving for the set with a 5-3 lead, she gave up her serve. The
break was motivation for the Frenchwoman, as she first evened the score,
then broke Williams' serve and with her serve won the set with a score of
7-5. Rezai won five games in a row, with greater mobility and greater leg
strength than her rival, who anchored at the bottom of the court and
could not level the rhythm of her opponent. This was a great victory and
comeback for Rezai. At the end of the match, Rezai stated she was more
than pleased with her performance, as it was the greatest achievement of
her professional career. "It's been the best week of my career. I played
very well and I'm very proud of myself, because it was a very tough
tournament. I just believed in myself," said the Frenchwoman. On the
other hand, Venus Williams praised Rezai's game and gave due credit for
her victory. Despite losing, Venus stated she felt really confident with
her game. "She played really well; I have to give her credit for that. If
she can come out and play like that she'll definitely have good days in
the future. I've had a great week this week, and last week. I feel
confident in my game and I'm pushing forward with pride into the next
tournament," said the world No.2.Thus with this victory, the native of
Saint-Etienne won her first title of the season and the third in her
career. Both of her two previous titles were last year. Despite Venus
Williams' defeat in the Madrid Open finals, she appeared on Monday as the
world number two of the WTA rankings, thus ousting Denmark's Caroline
Wozniacki, who fell in the second round of this competition. Now with the
two Williams in the top two spots, the sisters are dominating the tennis
circuit for the first time in eight years. The last time the Williams
sisters took the top two was in July 2002.
http://goarticles.com/article/WTA-Tennis-Aravane-Rezai-Beats-Venus-
Williams-at-Madrid-Masters-Final/2918226/