Serena Williams won her 3rd French Open and 20th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Saturday. She defeated Czech Lucie Safarova by 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2.
The American is now two short of Steffi Graf, the open era leader, and four off Margaret Court, the all-time leader. Having won the Australian Open at the start of the year, Williams is also halfway to the coveted calendar year grand slam.
Serena’s win over Safarova was her fifth three-set victory of a tournament that was a struggle almost from day one. She willed herself to victory against Safarova, who was appearing in her first grand slam final.
Williams had never failed to win a Grand Slam title on the 17 occasions she had taken the first set, and she honed in on another straight sets win by breaking serve to open the second and then holding to love.