By Erik Gudris / Saturday, January 4, 2014

 

Though her opponent Victoria Azarenka refused to back down, Serena Williams held on to defend her title at the Brisbane International.

Photo Credit: AP

Having split their four matches last season, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka entered the Brisbane International finals as co-favorites for the title. Not only were both looking to set the tone for their rivalry in 2014, but also perhaps give a preview to a potential Australian Open final in a few weeks time.

Williams came out hitting sharp in the opening games. Perhaps too sharp as some of her powerful shots landed just out. For her part, Azarenka started making the rallies longer and longer. But she ended up pressing too much as she tried to keep up with Williams' pace.

An errant forehand sent wide by Azarenka gave Williams the break for 4-3.

Though Azarenka made Williams serve for the set a few games later, that was not a problem. Williams banged down back-to-back aces to close out the set 6-4.

By now, Williams had 14 winners to just 3 from Azarenka.

Azarenka got in early serve trouble to start the second set, allowing Williams to break and open up a 2-0 lead. But as in their meetings last year, Azarenka proved she wouldn't go away so easily after dropping a set.

By placing her returns up the middle to take away any angles, Azarenka clawed back to not only break Williams once but twice. Holding a 4-2 lead, the second set almost looked like it was Azarenka's for the taking. Now it was Williams' turn to keep her shots deep and make the rallies longer.

Setting up a break point, Williams put away a smash winner that elicited a loud roar from the world No.1. As each player hit aces to serve out their next service games, a tiebreak looked almost certain.

But in the best game of the match, Williams targeted Azarenka's forehand wing and drew several errors from it. With a roundhouse backhand down the line winner, Williams earned the break for 6-5.

Serving for the title, the only question that lingered would be if Williams could hold her nerve. As in the US Open final from last summer, Williams looked positioned to serve out that contest in two sets only to falter and be forced into a decider. But there was no evidence of that happening on this night, however, as Williams bombed in another ace to start and several more big serves to bring up match point.

As expected, Azarenka had brought the fight to her opponent. But it was Williams who ended it with one final sizzling service delivery to seal the 6-4, 7-5 victory.

The stats showed that again it was mostly all about Williams, who hit 30 winners and 30 unforced errors compared to just 15 winners and 23 unforced from Azarenka.

While waiting to receive their respective trophies from Australian tennis great Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Azarenka and Williams smiled and chatted with each other at the net. In her speech, Azarenka congratulated Williams and added, "Hope to meet you again in Melbourne."

That drew a laugh from the crowd who likely sensed that they had watched just one chapter of what will be many in this ongoing, if still friendly rivalry between the world's top two players. After accepting the winner's trophy, Williams echoed Azarenka's thoughts by saying, "I hope we do play in Melbourne because that means we've gone the farthest."

Is an Azarenka versus Williams final in Melbourne inevitable? That will be the question asked over the next few weeks. But as each proved Saturday, perhaps the ones most looking forward to a potential showdown for the first Grand Slam title of the year are the two women themselves.