Serena Williams secured her first title of 2014 defeating Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Brisbane International.
Williams, the world No. 1, took the match 6-4, 7-5 in 98 minutes to send out a clear warning to her rivals in the build up to the Australian Open.
She took the first set without facing a single break point and capitalized on an unforced error from Azarenka to break in the seventh game. The Belarus World No. 2 was offered no opportunity to restore parity and could not get back into the set.
Azarenka raised the stakes in the second set, twice breaking Williams and was in pole position to level things up after jumping out to a 4-2 lead before Williams broke back.
At 5-5, the American broke again to edge out in front and then served out the match to take the title.
The win extended a run of successive victories to 22 and Williams didn’t drop a set during the entire tournament.
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Cover Photo (Creative Commons License): Francisco Carbajal