Venus Wins 44th WTA Title, 1st In 32 Months

Venus Williams, playing in her first tournament since losing a dramatic 3-set showdown with Angelique Kerber in the 2nd round of the 2012 US Open, won her 44th WTA Tour title of her career by defeating Monica Niculescu 6-3 6-2 in Luxembourg. It was Venus' first title since she won consecutive titles in February 2010 in Dubai (hard courts) and Acapulco (clay), a gap of nearly 32 months. During this long title drought, Venus's career title count was surpassed by her sister Serena who won the 2012 US Open who is now #1 among active players with 45 career titles (an astonishing 1/3 of which are grand slam titles), and is favored to win the WTA Tour championships which begin in Istanbul later this week.

The 32-year-old American who has been diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder had to go through players like Roberta Vinci and Andrea Petkovic to win the indoor hard court title at the Luxembourg Open. She says that her goal is to be seeded at the 2013 Australian Open. Her WTA ranking is in the mid-30s right now so getting to be #32 and earning a seeding seems like a very achievable goal.

Go Venus!