2013 BEIJING: Serena d. Jankovic To Win 56th WTA Title

Serena Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-2 for her 10th title of the year and 56th of her career. She now has 73 wins and only 4 losses in 2013. Despite the lopsided score the final was not without drama as both players appeared to be struggling with injuries in the second set, with Jankovic calling for the trainer after the third game even though Serena was the one who was grimacing in pain and had just been broken. However when she returned to the court with her hip taped Jankovic was unable to trouble the World #1 and the match was soon over with Serena winning the last five games.

Serena is now 7th on the all-time list of WTA titleholders:

Additionally, Williams now has 56 WTA titles to her name, separating herself from Virginia Wade and Lindsay Davenport for standalone seventh place on the all-time list of most WTA titles - she now trails only Martina Navratilova (167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107), Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (68) and Billie Jean King (67). She had been tied with Wade and Davenport at 55.

I think it is pretty likely that Serena will end her career at #5 on the list. She should be able to win a dozen more titles in the next two years and she has said that she wants to play until the Rio Olympics.