Venus Wins 44th Career Title in Luxembourg

Venus Williams, despite not having her big serve at her disposal, dominated Monica Niculescu to win her first title of 2012 at Luxembourg.

By Erik Gudris

(October 21, 2012) -- For Venus Williams, her 44th title was a long time coming.

Having defeated Andrea Petkovic in a hard-fought semifinal, Williams entered the finals of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open as a huge favorite over Romania's Monica Niculescu in a first time meeting for both. But when Williams held in her opening game despite arming her serves in without her trademark ferocity, it seemed the match could turn into a closer contest.

Williams easily broke Niculescu's own serve at love and despite Williams continuing to struggle with her own service games, her powerful groundstrokes proved too much for the Romanian whose own orthodox game full of slice forehands had little effect on Williams who broke Niculescu's serve to love again to take the first set 6-2.

Niculescu could only watch as Williams won 11 out of the next 12 points to open up a 2-0 lead in the second set. Williams, who appeared fatigued and was called for a foot fault on a second serve, allowed Niculescu to stay close with her midway in the set before Williams found her range again on her forehand side to open a 5-2 advantage. Serving for the match at 5-3, Williams was pushed to 30-all but on her first match point, Williams won an extended rally that ended when Niculsecu sent her final shot well wide giving Williams a 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Luxembourg marks not only Williams first title of the season but her 44th career singles title that puts her only second to her sister Serena Williams in terms of active players holding the most titles on tour.

"It's a big moment for me since it's my first tournament win in so long," Williams told the crowd during the trophy ceremony reflecting on the fact that her last title came at Acapulco in 2010.

Williams, who returned to the tour in Miami after battling with an autoimmune disease for most of last year, acknowledged what the moment meant to her.

"In life you really have to keep believing in yourself and you have to push yourself past what you think you can do," she said.

Williams, who started the year ranked outside the top 100, will now finish the season within the top 30 when the new WTA rankings come out on Monday.

(File Photo: Venus WIlliams playing at the Western & Southern Open; Credit: Gonzalo Cisterna)