Serena Williams holds up the championship trophy after beating Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the Billie Jean King Cup tennis exhibition in New York on Monday. SD-Agencies
SERENA WILLIAMS beat her older sister Venus 6-4, 6-3 to win the Billie Jean King Cup exhibition Monday, marking the return of women’s tennis to Madison Square Garden after a nine-year absence.
Australian Open champion Serena, who defeated 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-3 in her one-set semifinal, collected US$400,000 in the first women’s matches at the Garden since the 2000 WTA Championships.
Venus, winner of her last two tournaments in Dubai and Acapulco, settled for US$300,000. The reigning Wimbledon champion beat world No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4 in her first match.
The Serbs got US$250,000 each in the US$1.2 million event.
“Venus and I are so excited to be playing here,” Serena said after an arduous final, during which she slipped over while chasing a baseline retrieval and later crashed onto the blue court when trying to reach a backhand volley.
“It was really good, really intense,” the 27-year-old world No. 1 said.
Venus, who leads the sisters’ WTA tournament head-to-head series 10-9, said: “I tried but Serena was too good.”
The first set turned on a marathon, with a tense ninth game that reached deuce nine times. Serena finally cracked her older sister’s serve on her eighth break point for a 5-4 lead before serving out the set.
The exhibition was also used to spark a youth registration push called “Tennis Night in America” with 750 facilities in all states holding sign-up parties for youth tennis programs built around screenings of the Billie Jean King Cup event.(SD-Agencies)