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ITFWorld Winter 2015

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ITFWORLD WINTER 2015 13 www.itftennis.com S ERENA WILLIAMS was a three- Slam wonder in 2015, and mounted an historic bid to capture the coveted calendar-year Grand Slam for the first time in 27 years. She gave her fans yet another season to remember and her achievements garnered attention both in the wider sporting world and beyond. The American is ITF World Champion for the sixth time, drawing level for the honour with Martina Navratilova. Only Steffi Graf has received it more times, doing so on seven occasions. Williams finished No. 1 in the year-end rankings for the fifth time on the back of a 53-3 win-loss record. At the Australian Open, Williams put paid to any suggestions that, at age 33, more major titles were beyond her by sweeping to her sixth title, defeating Maria Sharapova 63 76 to lift the trophy. Willliams's 19th Grand Slam triumph moved her ahead of Chris Evert and Navratilova on the all- time list, and now only Graf and Margaret Court, with 22 and 24 Slam titles respectively, were ahead of her. The American competed at Indian Wells for the first time in 14 years, but handed a walkover to Simona Halep in the semis due to a knee injury. She was back in time to win the Miami title though, before making her second Fed Cup by BNP Paribas outing of the season. As the tour moved to clay, Williams faltered slightly, losing to Petra Kvitova in the semis in Madrid and a week later withdrawing ahead of her third round match against compatriot Christina McHale in Rome due to an elbow injury. Doubts were cast over her fitness for Roland Garros, but with her legendary tenacity on full display Williams captured the title in Paris for the third time. To do so she won four of her seven matches after losing the opening set, and defeated Lucie Safarova 63 67 62 in the final. Williams had an easier run to her sixth Wimbledon title, where only two of her matches went the distance and she beat Garbine Muguruza 64 64 in the decider. It was her 21st major title, and her fourth Grand Slam title in a row going back to the 2014 US Open. Having repeated her 'Serena Slam' of 2002- 03, but this time through the first three majors of a season, her bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam was on. The stage looked set after Williams won her fifth title of 2015 at Cincinnati, but it was to be her last. Having kept the dream alive through the first five rounds at Flushing Meadows, she suffered a devastating semifinal loss in New York to an inspired Roberta Vinci. Her need to rest and "heal" for the remainder of the season was understandable, but she made it clear that she would be back in 2016 "to continue my journey in this beautiful game."

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