Serena Williams receiving the WTA Tour Championships trophy from H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha yesterday. 

DOHA: It was a spectacular, unique and thrilling stuff at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday. Sadly, it did not involve the Williams sisters who contested the Sony Ericsson Championships final but two women from an acrobatic team. Though Serena took the crown by beating her elder sibling Venus, the summit clash lacked the usual sparkle which the sisters’ contests are known for.

Serena was the fresher and better player on view as she carved out an easy 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory to pocket $1.55m cheque and 1,500 points. However, the show which left the crowd spellbound was that of the acrobatic team’s two women who descended from sky – hanging from a giant crane to place the Billie Jean King Trophy on the Centre Court before being presented to Serena. They were supported by strings with a round-shaped metal object which had number 25 above them indicating Qatar Tennis Federation’s (QTF) 25 years of existence. It was a perfect display after the game, thanks to QTF.

“It feels fantastic. I definitely wasn’t expecting to win when I came here because I hadn’t been practising very well. I kept fighting against a really tough player but Venus kept hitting the ball back. That’s never easy and it’s really frustrating,” said Serena, after capturing 35th Tour title of her career.

A near full house would have expected some high-class tennis from the American pair. But that did not happen. There were very few long rallies with world number one Serena dominating on her serve. Serena lost just seven points on her serve before cantering home in 85 minutes against last year’s Doha champion.

The 28-year-old Serena enjoyed two service breaks (third and seventh games) in the opening set to take the set 6-2. In the second, all 12 games went with serve pushing the set into the tie-breaker.

With a 5-4 lead in the tie-breaker, Serena fired an ace to have match point. And later sealed the proceedings with a forehand winner for 7-4 verdict. It was her second Season-Ending event victory after claiming the title in 2001 on debut when Lindsay Davenport withdrew before the final with a knee injury.

She was twice runner-up in 2002 (lost to Kim Clijsters) and 2004 (lost to Maria Sharapova). Last year, she had to pull out due to an injury after two matches. Overall this was her sixth appearance at these Championships.

It was a double joy for Serena, who was also bestowed with the year-end world number one recognition. This is the first time since 2002 she will be on top of the season-end rankings. The official WTA rankings will be released today.

Serena was the favourite to win against her sister, having dominated their previous 10 title deciders. She had a 7-3 advantage and now has 13-10 edge in overall head-to-head meetings since 1998. The most recent final before this was in Wimbledon in June where Serena triumphed. She had also beaten Venus in three sets in a round robin match here.

For the defending champion Venus, she was not at her best. She arrived on the court with a bandaged left knee. Serena too had strapped her left thigh giving indications of both players not being 100 percent fit physically.

“Yes, we definitely weren’t physically hundred percent out there today. But it just shows you how much we try. Even in the second set, how hard we both fought, especially Venus, she was getting every ball back. I was running down a lot of balls too. Again, we were just doing the best that we could do,” said Serena when queried whether Venus was 100 percent fit physically.

Venus, however, did not admit to any injury when repeatedly questioned on her fitness.

“I gave a hundred percent. I had a great time, especially the points that I was winning. You know it is the end of the season. I have no complaints. I felt I was doing my best out there,” replied Venus. Venus, who will end the year as No. 6, a one place jump in the rankings, praised 11-time singles Grand Slam champion Serena.

“Serena played a really good match. She did not make too many errors. She kept trying to put the pressure on me. That is a smart way to play,” Venus said.

The tournament had been hit by injuries with four players forced to withdraw. First of the lot was Dinara Safina (back), followed by Vera Zvonareva (ankle), Victoria Azarenka (leg) and Caroline Wozniacki (stomach muscle).

Serena was the only in-form player in the tournament coming into the title clash with an unbeaten record of winning four matches. The American capped a wonderful 2009 with this trophy and world number one ranking. She had won two singles Grand Slam titles Australian Open and Wimbledon this year.

She joined Belgium’s Justine Henin as the only players to have won two Grand Slams and the year-end Championships in the same year. Henin had achieved the feat in 2007.

THE PENINSULA