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Serena Williams has now matched Roger Federer's tally of 17 Grand Slam singles crowns Y ou could be forgiven for thinking that Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams were inevitable US Open champions. The two form players of the American hard court season, the pair arrived at Flushing Meadows as US Open Series champions, Nadal with back-to-back titles in Montreal and Cincinnati in his winning stable, Serena with the Toronto title and a Cincinnati final in hers. On their perfect day, they were indomitable on cement. And so it proved in New York, too. In her first six matches at Flushing Meadows, Serena dropped serve just once, produced 112 winners, and didn't lose a set. Nadal meanwhile surrendered just one set in a testy tiebreak against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the fourth round, but was otherwise ruthless in his unpicking of his opponents. The most emphatic was his persecution of Tommy Robredo in their quarterfinal, a 60 62 62 thrashing which was the shortest US Open men's quarterfinal since Ivan Lendl beat Derrick Rostagno in 1988. Serena's version of such dominance was a streak of 24 games in a row, from 1-1 in the second set of her fourth round match against Sloane Stephens, to 1-1 in the second set of her semifinal against Li Na. Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro was the unfortunate recipient of a 60 60 beatdown in between those two matches. Elsewhere, danger men and women such as Juan Martin del Potro, defending champion Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Caroline Wozniacki and Sabine Lisicki, to name just five, had exited in rounds before their time, bundled out unceremoniously as the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Stanislas Wawrinka, Robredo, Flavia Pennetta and Camila Giorgi seized their spotlight moment. Hewitt's run, in particular, which ended in the fourth round, inspired those watching that even 32-year-olds with bionic feet can still work wonders on a tennis court. "This is what I'm still playing for," Hewitt said. "Moments like this." But Nadal and Serena's paths to their 13th and 17th Grand Slam singles titles respectively, were not entirely straightforward. The two finals, played in the goliath that is Arthur Ashe Stadium, pitted both against the two players who have troubled them most in recent times, Serena against Victoria Azarenka, Nadal against Novak Djokovic, marking the first time that world No. 1 had faced world No. 2 in both US Open finals since 1996. Azarenka had been a mere game from the title at 5-3 in the third set of the final against Serena on the same court last year, and this year had the confidence of winning their last two encounters on a hard court, at Cincinnati just a few weeks prior, and Doha in February. Djokovic, too, hadn't claimed a hard court title since Dubai, and had lost to Nadal in the Montreal last four. But he had won their last two Grand Slam finals on hard courts — the recordbreaking, shirt-ripping five-set epic in Australia in January 2012, and an orchestrated four-set destruction at Flushing Meadows in September 2011. But while both champions rushed headlong to embrace their winning fate, their opponents seemed to snatch at it, find a way back, and then surrender. When Serena lead Azarenka 75 and 5-3, with commentator Mary Carillo already stationed by the side of the court to lead the presentation, she fumbled not once, but twice when trying to serve out for the title in the face of Azarenka's sudden refusal to lose. The Belarusian grabbed the second set 10-8 in the tiebreak. www.itftennis.com With the match all square, Azarenka had the opportunity to dig in her pink-shoed heels and take the fight to tennis's grand dame. But Serena didn't let her. She upped her level, as champions do, swooping through the final set 61 to Azarenka's bewilderment. Celebrating with a series of leaps and bounds, Serena claimed her fifth US Open title, the third major she has won five times, and her 17th Grand Slam singles title. One away from Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova's haul of 18, and closing in on Steffi Graf's 22, the world No. 1 also became the first woman in her 30s to win four Grand Slam singles titles, having won her first way back when in the 1990s. "I have never felt better," Serena said. "I feel really fit. I can play a tournament like this, singles, doubles, with tough, tough schedules. For the most part, I felt really good. You know, I haven't felt like this in a number of years. I'm excited about the possibilities. I don't know what can happen. I just keep playing and do the best that I can." ITFWORLD AUTUMN 2013 25