Serena Williams defeated opponent Victoria Azarenka in the Italian Open Sunday, putting another victory under her belt, making this her fourth consecutive tournament win.
The next stop for her will be the French Open, which takes places next Sunday. She is currently on fire, primed to kick off the Open with a 24-match winning streak.
She claimed titles in Madrid, Charleston, S.C.; and Miami last week, ESPN reported.
Williams, 31, took the top honors this morning with 6-1 6-3 victories against the 23-year-old Belarusian.
Azarenka held the No. 1 in the world spot over Williams for 51 weeks until February when the American Williams defeated her 11 out of 13 times, the BBC reports. Williams is the oldest player to ever fill this rank, the Guardian reported.
After battles raging for 20 minutes at a time, Williams managed to get the upperhand and regain control of the match after Azarenka kept her on her toes despite Williams taking the early 3-0 lead.
Azarenka double faulted, giving Williams a 5-3 lead. Overall, Williams held a remarkable edge of 41-12, serving 9 aces to Azarenka's zero.
Both players were spotty on their serves, with Williams landing only 41 percent, and Azarenka being unable to capitalize on second serves.
Williams is a prime favorite going in to Paris next week. She leads her sister Venus, who sat and watched from the stands in Rome, by seven titles.
Winning on this clay court, however, is a rarity even for Williams, who won her last victory there back in 2002 when she defeated Justine Henin.
Williams earned three championship points, and the match concluded after an hour and 30 minutes.
It was very close," she said. "The first three games were over 20-25 minutes or so, so it wasn't really easy out there. Nothing is really easy."
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