It must have felt like déjà vu for Serena Williams.
Fresh off her victory at Wimbledon last month, Williams continued her run of domination on the tennis court Saturday by overpowering Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 in the women’s singles final at the site of her last historic victory.
Williams’ trouncing of Sharapova gave the 14-time Grand Slam winner her first single’s gold at the Olympics.
And Williams continues to make history. With her victory in the Olympics final, she earned the Golden Slam, winning all four Grand Slam titles and the gold.
Those tuning in late to watch the match were probably stunned when they took a peek at the scoreboard during the second set when Williams was up 3-0. Sharapova finally won a game to make it 3-1, but that was all Williams was willing to give up. After losing her first game 45 minutes into the match, Williams returned to form and finished a dominating Olympic run that saw her lose only 17 games in six matches.
“I was so focused here,” Williams said, according to The Associated Press. “I remember I was serving and I was thinking: ‘Serena, this is your best chance to win a gold medal. You’re at Wimbledon, you’re on grass, you play great on grass, pull it together, just win this.’ And that’s what I thought about.”
Williams ended the match with an ace—her 60th of the tournament—and unleashed a loud scream as her group of supporters, including sister Venus, got up from their seats to applaud her victory.
Despite the strong victory, Williams said after the match that when Sharapova won her first game she knew she had to take care of business quickly.
“Against Maria, if you give her any hope, she’s trying to come back,” Williams reportedly said. “She won that one game and I could see her pumping her fist, and I was like, ‘Oh boy, here she comes.’ It was really important for me to almost go out there and just do everything.”
-With Associated Press
