adminTORONTO. — World number one Serena Williams thrashed Romania’s Sorana Cirstea to win her eighth tennis title of the year at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday. The American (31) won 6-2, 6-0 in one hour and five minutes to take the Canadian title for the third time. Williams has now won 54 titles, putting her fifth on the all-time list behind Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Lindsay Davenport.
She will try to win her 17th Grand Slam title at the US Open later this month.
After dropping the first three games there was a brief resurgence from Cirstea following a pep talk from coach Darren Cahill, but it did not last.
The 23-year-old, ranked 27th, cut the deficit with back-to-back games but she would not win another as Williams reeled off nine in a row to seal victory.
Williams, who heads to Cincinnati next week, won her 16th major title at the French Open in June but admitted she had hoped for more as she has been in such dominant form.
“I’m disappointed I didn’t win Wimbledon or Australia,” said Williams. “I’m always insatiable.”
Williams completely overwhelmed her unseeded opponent to cruise to a one-sided victory in just over an hour and claim the Rogers Cup for the third time.
It was the world number one’s eighth title this year and put her outright fifth on the all-time list of tournament winners after she had been tied with Monica Seles.
Only Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Lindsay Davenport have won more WTA singles titles than Williams.
“There’s a lot of pressure and nothing is guaranteed but I’m happy to do well,” Williams said during the on court trophy presentation ceremony.
Cirstea had defied the odds just to make her third WTA final. The 23-year-old beat two former world number ones and two grand slam champions to reach the decider but found Williams too much to overcome.
“I know she is capable of winning big matches,” Williams said. “She’s had some big upsets in this tournament and I didn’t want to be another casualty.”
Williams got off to a fast start, breaking the Romanian’s first two service games to jump out to a 3-0 lead. — BBC Sport.
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