WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS- Serena Williams is the strongest: the Master of Istanbul is hers.

Serena Williams (4) b. Maria Sharapova (2) 64 63

After eleven years since her first Wta Championship, and three from the second, Serena Williams put a spectacular show winning the Istanbul Masters against Russian Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 30 minutes of play. The shot that made the most difference was, as we've come to expect, the American's serve: 11 aces, with 82% of points points won on the first serve. With these stats, the Russian couldn’t really do anything more. The footwork too was another vital aspect today: Williams moved fast and with agility, while Maria took too much time to exit the blocks.

The first set was decided by a break, the one applied by Serena in the fifth game. In the seventh game, Sharapova had to save more break points. In the second set, Williams quickly went up 2-0. By then it was pretty clear that there would not be a third set on the day.

Williams will rise to 3 in the rankings, but most pundits believe Azarenka and Sharapova are weaker than her. Vika has beaten her just once (Miami 2009 with Williams injured). Maria, instead, hasn’t beaten her for 8 years (Los Angeles, 2004) and in 2012 won just 16 games in 4 matches. So, Safina some days ago was talking about rankings and regularity in playing tournaments, giving merits to herself and to Jankovic and Wozniacki to have occupied that position even without having won a Slam. It could also have some reason ( I don’t see any), but Williams, this Williams is amazing!

She’s the oldest winner of the Championship at 31. Previously, Navratilova had the record (30).

In the doubles, Kirilenko/ Petrova beat Hlavackova/ Hradecka 6-1, 6-4 for the trophy.