Black Tennis Pros

"Watch out for women power, that's what you saw ..." Great words from a woman Indian dignitary spoken during the presentation ceremony. Prior to that, there was a fight to the finish.

With dad Richard Williams, sisters Venus and Isha supporting her from the stands, American Serena Williams brought the 2008 Canara Bank Bangalore Open to a conclusion with her first title of 2008. Serena defeated Swede Patty Schynder 7-5, 6-3.

To reach this title Serena had to get by big sister Venus the day before. It wasn't an easy task, but Serena prevailed. While neither of the sisters was in tip top form, Serena seemed to have just a bit more fighting spirit.

The same was true of today's match against Switzerland's own Patty Schynder. Neither Patty or Serena played remarkably well, but Serena's fight game was on as usual. The more errors she made, the harder she battled to get the next point, classic Serena.

The first set was literally whomever could get to that crucial point, it consisted of service break after service break. Fortunately for Serena, she was able to hang in there and come out on top.

The second set was more of the same until Serena saw blood in the water after being down a break then bringing the set to 3-3, she devoured the balance of Schynder's game straight to the finish.

As proud dad Richard took lots of pictures as usual, and Venus signed autographs in the stands, former ATP Tour player Indian Vijay Amritraj spoke very fondly of Serena and the Williams family as he prepared to bring Serena up to receive her trophy.

"She comes from a remarkable family, and you've heard me on the television many many years talking about Richard and Venus and what they've done for tennis worldwide."

"It is a great pleasure to have all of them, the entire family here with us in India for the first time, and making their first visit to Bangalore. And rightly, the winner of this years tournament, the former world no. 1 and grand slam champion, ladies and gentlemen Serena Williams."

Amritraj stated, "Serena, first time in India and you win the tournament, feel good?" "I definitely feel good, it's my first time in India, everyone here is so nice and the crowd was great, it was fun out here.

When asked about the match being so tight Serena said, "Yeah you know, I've got to give thanks to my God Jehovah because, I mean, a couple of weeks ago I just wasn't even sure if I would be able to play here.

Serena was asked whether it was very tough playing Venus on Saturday, "Yeah it was really tough because you know to me, she's the best player on the tour, so, I hate to see my name next to hers (laughing).