2013 US OPEN: Serena Defeats Vika To Win 17th Major Title

As I predicted earlier today, World #1 Serena Williams outlasted World #2 Victoria Azarenka to win her 17th major title and 5th U.S. Open women's singles championship. The final score was 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1 and at 2 hours and 45 minutes is the longest women's final since 1980, when duration records started being kept.

The win puts her major title total at seventeen, just one behind fellow all-time great American players Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, and resulted in one-day payday of $3.6 million, $2.6 million for winning the US Open women's singles championship itself and an extra $1 million bonus for winning the US Open Series. That is the single largest payday in women's tennis history and is larger than the career earnings of every single active American male player.

In addition, Serena now has 67 wins and 4 losses (2 to her final opponent  Azarenka) on the year, including 9 WTA tour titles to add to her career haul of 55. The win also cements her World #1 ranking and assures she will end the year as #1, having won two majors in a calendar year for the 6th time and defending a major title for only the 4th time.