Serena Williams was just seventeen when she won her first Grand Slam, at the very stage of the US Open, and now as a 30-year-old she's triumphant yet again, defeating world No.1 Victoria Azarenka 6-2 2-6 7-5 in the final and winning her 15th Grand Slam singles title and her fourth at the US Open.

In the beginning it looked like Azarenka would end up just like all the other Serena's opponents, crushed, but in the second set the Belarusian put all her assets on display, taking the match to the thrilling third set, in which she earned an early lead and later even served for the match, but it's not over til it's over, especially when Serena is on the other side.

En route to her 60th career final, Williams lost just 19 games and spent an average of just one hour and eight minutes on court per match, and after the first set against Azarenka, it seemed that the numbers wouldn't build up much after the final either. Serena opened with a dominant 6-2 first set, closing it out by breaking Azarenka's serve to love, while Azarenka barely won more than one point in Serena's service games.

The situation changed completely in the second set, though. Azarenka lifted her game, Serena's forehand went off, and the Belarusian saw herself leading 5-1 and quickly winning the second set, mirroring the first-set scoreline, 6-2. Now the things got complicated, especially as we knew Azarenka's 12-0 record in three-set matches this season. Read more »

Our guest blogger Omair was correct in his US Open semifinal predictions. He said that Victoria Azarenka would have the edge over Maria Sharapova and take her out in three sets, and that's exactly what happened in the intense match that absolutely lived up to the expectations, while Serena Williams cruised past Sara Errani in the other semifinal, as fearfully predicted. Let's see what Omair is saying about the upcoming championships match between Serena and Vika.

A great showdown of two Grand Slam champions, one the winner of the first Grand Slam of the season (Australian Open), the other the winner of the last Grand Slam concluded (Wimbledon), a reigning world No.1 and a deemed world No.1. This will be a rematch of the pair's last year's US Open third-round encounter, whose second set was one of the best tennis sets ever.

The pair has already met ten times, with Azarenka managing to win just one of those ten encounters, and winning just one set in the nine encounters she lost. This will be their fourth meeting this year and Serena has won all the previous three in straight sets (however, none of the three were played on hardcourts).

Let's see the average stats of Serena and Vika in their last five US Open matches leading up to the final:

Azarenka has lost two sets this fortnight, while Williams is yet to lose more than four games in a set. Azarenka has shown the firepower and she tends to push Serena hard, but the match can come down to serve and return, and our stats show that Serena has been better than Vika in both. Read more »

Today at the US Open is a day of relaxation for women's singles, but a perfect occasion for us to collect our thoughts about the upcoming semifinals. Our contributor Omair is once again up for the challenge, previewing the clash of Sara Errani and Serena Williams. Will Serena continue to brush her opponents aside? Let's see what the stats are saying.

Serena Williams, reigning Wimbledon champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist, will face Sara Errani, reigning Roland Garros runner-up, for a spot in the 2012 US Open final. This promises to be a great match, given the contrasting styles of players. As the only semifinalist yet to win a Grand Slam title, Errani will face an uphill battle against Williams on her home court.

*Read Omair's preview of the 2012 US Open semifinal between Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova*

The three-time US Open champion Williams is the only semifinalist who is yet to lose a set, actually, she has lost at most four games in a set so far in the tournament, and that happened only in two of the ten sets. She has lost the fewest games of the semifinalists, just 16!

Let's have a look at the average stats of Errani and Williams in their five matches leading up to the 2012 US Open semis:

The tenth-seeded Errani will have to play the match of her life if she is to beat Williams for the first time. Williams has beaten Errani in all their three prior encounters, however, Errani was never ranked in the Top 30, let alone the Top 10, in those losses. Read more »

In her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since Roland Garros 2008, Ana Ivanovic was unlucky to bump into Serena Williams and suffer the same fate as most Serena's recent opponents – a short stay on the court. Going up 3-0 in the first set against Ivanovic, Serena had won 23 straight games! The match finished in just 58 minutes and Serena won stunning 26 of 29 points on her first serve, while hitting 12 aces to Ivanovic's zero. Final score: 6-1 6-3.

Ivanovic has to find satisfaction in improving her game and reaching her first US Open quarterfinal, accepting the fact that Serena has been pretty much unbeatable lately. This summer she won Wimbledon and the Olympic gold in both singles and doubles, while at the US Open she's been a champion three times and has made at least the semifinals the last four times she played the tournament.

Serena's semifinal opponent will be Sara Errani, the first Italian US Open semifinalist in the Open Era, who will become No.1 in doubles after the tournament. To advance to the final four, Errani beat her best friend and regular doubles partner Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-4. The other semifinal will feature Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

As expected, we enjoyed the concurrent Grand Slam sort-of success of the Serbian sisters for a short time. Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska was a big obstacle for Jelena Jankovic this time, even though the Pole is past the second round at the US Open for the first time in four years, while even before that her results couldn’t match Jankovic’s semis here in 2006, quarterfinals in 2007 and final in 2008. Those days are long gone, though, and today Radwanska converted six of seven break opportunities to eliminate the former world No.1 in straight sets, 6-3 7-5. Let’s see what Ana Ivanovic will do tonight against Sloane Stephens. Read more »