Week #43: Serena Williams is 2009 WTA Champion

Serena Williams confirmed in the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships that she is the No.1 player this 2009 season. Serena won all her five matches and only had real trouble in her round-robin match against sister Venus, when she had to overcome a match point. In the final, Serena faced again her sister Venus, who progressed to the final despite losing her first two matches as she tied with Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova with one victory each, but showed that she must be always taken into account even when she's not at her best. The other round-robin group was burdened by injuries. WTA #1 Dinara Safina retired in her opening match against Jankovic after playing just two games. She was replaced by Vera Zvonareva, who also retired after a Marathon match against Caroline Wozniacki, who suffered severe cramps and wasn't able to compete at her best again even though she progressed to the semis, where she retired after losing the first set to Serena Williams. Finally Victoria Azarenka, who also had a three-hour battle with Wozniacki, retired on the third set of her match against Agnieszka Radwasnka, who had replaced Zvonareva.

In the doubles, Spanish Nuria Llagostera and Maria Jose Martinez surprised everyone and upsetted 2nd seeds Serena and Venus Williams in the semifinals and 1st seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the final to get the Sony Ericsson Championship doubles title in their first appearance, despite beinfg the lowest ranked pair.All the semifinals and the final were really tight and were decided in the third set super tie-break

Sony Ericsson Championships, Doha (QAT), $4,500,000
Singles final: Serena Williams (USA) def Venus Williams (USA) 6/2 7/6
Doubles final: N.Llagostera/M.J.Martinez (ESP) def C.Black/L.Huber (ZIM/USA) 7/6 5/7 10/7