Serena Williams: another victory

World number one Serena Williams climbed out of an early hole to beat third-seeded German Angelique Kerber 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 on Sunday to win the WTA Stanford crown.

Williams trailed Kerber 2-5 in the first set but she broke the German when she was serving for the set. It was Williams all the way, making it 6-5 and would have wrapped the set at 7-5, but Kerber fought back, taking it to tie break. The tie-break was one-sided, as Serena took it 7-1.

The top-seeded American, playing her first tournament since a disappointing Wimbledon campaign in which she was slowed by a virus, got her hardcourt build-up to the US Open off to a good start and will try to carry the momentum into next week’s tournament at Montreal.

Williams notched her fourth title of 2014, after triumphs in Brisbane, Miami and Rome.

But the 17-time Grand Slam champion has struggled in majors this year, failing to make it past the fourth round in the Australian Open, French Open or Wimbledon.

She’ll have her last chance of the year to add another major title to her resume at the US Open, which starts at Flushing Meadows on August 25.