America
Serena Williams routs Suarez Navarro to claim 8th Miami title
Miami, April 5
American top seed Serena
Williams was in devastating form here on Saturday afternoon in the final
of the Miami Open, trouncing Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0 in
less than an hour to claim her eighth title at this elite hard-court
event.
Williams hit 26 more winners than her opponent (29-3) and
won 95 percent of her first-serve points en route to capturing her
second title of the season, the other being the Australian Open, the
year's first Grand Slam event.
The Spaniard, who will move into
the top 10 for the first time when the new WTA rankings come out on
Monday, started well to stay even with the 19-time Grand Slam champion
through four games.
But the 33-year-old Williams completely
dominated the match from that point forward, hitting serves and ground
strokes with so much power that Suarez Navarro was typically unable to
keep the rallies alive beyond three or four shots.
The Spanish
No. 12 seed, who was competing in a final of a WTA Premier Mandatory
event for the first time in her career, hit a series of unforced errors
to drop her serve in the sixth game and was unable to challenge the
world No. 1 the rest of the way.
Williams was particularly lethal
with her return game, allowing Suarez Navarro to win a paltry 26
percent of her second-serve points for the match.
After Williams
snuffed out the 26-year-old Spaniard's lone break-point opportunity in
the second set and then grabbed a 3-0 lead, Suarez Navarro appeared
resigned to her fate, putting up little fight as the American raced
through the remaining games.
The Miami Open will conclude on
Sunday, when Serbian top seed Novak Djokovic will take on No. 3 seed
Andy Murray of Britain in the men's final.