Internazionali BNL D’Italia, Rome

Women’s Final: [1] Serena Williams (USA) vs. [24] Madison Keys (USA)

Keys got off to a quick start because Williams as has become more frequent in the latter stages of her career got off to a slow start.  The stress of dropping serve early seems not to bother Williams as it would players of lesser caliber.  Perhaps it is what she uses to get motivated, perhaps not. Despite being the underdog, Keys was playing with a certain amount of pressure.  She was playing her first Premier 5 WTA Final against the number one ranked player in the world. Would Keys be able to hold on to her lead or would Williams do what only she is capable of doing when focused?  Williams shrugged off the slow start fairly quickly in the face of the determined attack from her opponent.

Weather and/or nerves got to Keys in the sixth game and she served up a slew of double faults to lose her first set lead. Keys settled down though and looked ready to make this a competitive match.  The tiebreak was a nail-biter and really could have gone either way. Williams as she has done time and time again, elevated her game in the second set and quickly squashed Keys’ hopes of winning this encounter. Has Williams finally shaken off the disappointment of losing the US and Australian Opens?  This title will go a long way to erasing some of those emotions/memories. Fourteen years later, Williams won her fourth title in Rome with the defeat of Keys 7-6(5), 6-3 and has served notice to all future opponents and naysayers that she is ready to go for her 22^nd Major title at Roland Garros.