Serena Williams clinched her first Olympic singles gold medal with a 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Maria Sharapova in the most one-sided women’s final in the history of the Games on Saturday. Williams’ victory, which surpassed Suzanne Lenglen’s 6-3, 6-0 win over Dorothy Holman in the 1920 final in Antwerp, is the culmination of an incredible grass-court campaign that has brought the American her fifth Wimbledon crown and now the third gold medal of a remarkable career.
The 30-year-old, who has won two doubles gold medals with sister Venus, is just the second woman to win a Golden Slam of all four major titles and singles gold, emulating German legend Steffi Graf, who achieved the feat in 1988 when she won the five titles in the same year. Serena is also the first woman to complete a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. And the 14-time Grand Slam champion isn’t finished yet. She could yet leave the All England Club with another gold as she and Venus are through to the doubles semi-finals, where they are due to face Russia’s Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova later on Saturday.
It is hard to believe that, just two months ago, Serena was being written off as a fading force against her French Open first round exit against Virginie Razzano. The 30-year-old’s reponse to that defeat in Paris has been breathtaking and, whatever the rankings say, there can be no doubt who remains the pre-eminent force in the women’s game. Williams, the world number four didn’t surrender a single set in her six Olympic singles matches and lost just 17 games, crushing, amongst others, French Open champion Sharapova, current world number one Victoria Azarenka and two other former world number ones in Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic.
