Black Tennis Pros

Title number five came at the expense of one shattered racquet, and the elongated conversion of I don't know how many match points, but it was great to watch. Seeing American Serena Williams fight to the finish is always a win in and of itself.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Saturday afternoon, Serena defended her title against Serbian Jelena Jankovic, defeating her 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. Earning the 30th title of her career, Serena became one of an elite party of two to hold this title for a whopping five times. She joins the great Steffi Graf in that honor.

The match was a wicked roller coaster ride. Serena came out in the first set and it was strictly business. She very thoughtfully, professionally and clinically kicked ass, it was a sight to see. From her serve, to her return of serve, to the rallies, nothing was missing or off, it was rich.

"I was definitely up and on my way to glory within an hour, but I started making a lot of mistakes, and Jelena obviously started playing better, too," Williams said. "Players who have nothing to lose are the most dangerous people in life on the court."

Second set, the first set in reverse, the fantastic one deconstructed and allowed Jelena back into the match. It was like you were watching a tennis video of 'how to,' and 'how not to' play a final at the same time. Serena's entire game and cool seemed to unravel and major frustration began to build.

Third set, the comeback. Serena began collecting herself, all of her tennis talents and began to bring the title home. She soared to 5-0 and then, and then, brain cramp! Once again, Jelena was back into the match. After several unsuccessful attempts to serve for the match, even Serena's racquet turned on her. She wasn't having that though, she killed it.



Now that the bad racquet was dead, Serena was able to compose herself and try to close this thing out again.

When asked about the murdered racquet post match, Serena said, “I smashed a racket? My hand must have been really oily and sweaty. That's just not me.”

“I thought I had like 15 match points. I'm glad to know it wasn't,” Williams said. “I got tight. I guess you can classify that as nervous. ... It's me just feeling like, 'I'm almost there. I would hate to lose this match after being up so much.'”