Serena Williams ended a three-year title drought and raised expectations for the Australian Open on Sunday when she overcame a sluggish start to beat outsider Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 at the WTA Auckland Classic. It is Williams’ first title since 2017 — and her first as a mother — since she won the Australian Open while pregnant. Her 73 WTA titles now stretch across four decades, after she won her first in 1999. With her confidence boosted, Williams held to love in the next game, broke Pegula again and then served to clinch the first set. Williams broke on Pegula’s next service game and stayed in front until the end of the set to take the title and end a sequence of five defeats in finals since her 2017 win in Melbourne.

Source: Punch January 12, 2020 06:11 UTC