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Serena beats Sharapova for 19th time in row

Serena Williams was not about to let Maria Sharapova make a match of this.

So facing a break point early in the second set, Williams conjured up a backhand passing shot so good, so powerful, so precise, that Sharapova had no chance to reach it. Williams watched the ball land, and then raised a clenched left fist toward the night sky.

In her first match at the U.S. Open since last year's loss in a chaotic, controversial final, Williams stretched her winning streak against Sharapova to 19 matches with a nearly flawless performance that produced a 6-1, 6-1 victory Monday.

Asked whether she could even imagine losing that many matches in a row across 15 years against one opponent, Williams paused for a moment, then replied: ''Gosh, I never thought about it like that.''
She now leads their head-to-head series 20-2.

''Every time I come up against her,'' Williams said, ''I just bring out some of my best tennis.''
Sure did this time; the whole thing lasted all of 59 minutes.

Williams won twice as many points, 56-28. She saved all five break points she faced and lashed serves at up to 115 mph. She broke five times.

''I always said her ball somehow lands in my strike zone,'' Williams said. ''I don't know. It's just perfect for me.''

Few players would have stood a chance against Williams the way she was hitting balls deep and true - and certainly not a diminished Sharapova, who is ranked 87th after missing much of this season with a bad right shoulder that needed surgery. This was a showdown fit for a final, at least in theory: 

These two met in a title match at each of the other three Grand Slam tournaments but never had faced each other in New York.

Williams arrived at Flushing Meadows, where she's won six titles, accompanied by questions about her back, because spasms that flared up this month forced her to stop playing during the final of one hard-court tuneup tournament and pull out of another one entirely.


Source: AP



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