• Madrid Open

Rezai shocks Venus to claim Madrid Open title

May 16, 2010

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Aravane Rezai showed unbelievable nerve to claim the third title of her career, beating the much-favoured Venus Williams 6-2 7-5 at the Madrid Open.

Rezai, buoyed by her wins over four-time French Open champion Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic earlier in the tournament, steam-rolled the first set before launching a second set fightback to seal glory. Williams, who will rise to No. 2 in the world rankings when they are published on Monday, threw away a commanding lead in the second set as her French opponent rattled off five games in a row to triumph in straight sets.

"I just cannot believe this," Rezai said. "She played very well and I've always respected her as a player and a champion. I just tried my best today and it worked well for me."

The world No. 24 showed no nerves as she put pressure on the seven-time Grand Slam champion from the start. Having held to love in her first service game, the 23-year-old earned the first break of the match after Williams double-faulted.

With her serve working wonders, Rezai was offering her American oponent few chances to break back. And while her own service was exemplary, as a first serve percentage of 67 would suggest, Williams' continued to falter as she was broken for a second time. Rezai showed the 29-year-old how to do it, holding to love for the first set.

Williams, so impressive in her demoltion of Shahar Peer in the semi-finals, looked somewhat embarassed by her own performance but did exact some revenge on the Rezai serve - breaking her early in the second set to finally gain a foothold in the match.

However, her respite was brief as Rezai maintained her aggressive intent to break back immediately. Williams, appearing in her fourth final of 2010, went after Rezai in the following games and began to prey on her growing errors.

Leading 5-3, Williams saw a set point go begging as Rezai dug deep to hold serve. The French No. 2 was unrelenting and carried on growing in stature as the match wore on. The power and accuracy in her play was too much for Williams and having dragged herself back from 5-2 down, Rezai wrapped up a scintillating win in only her second ever appearance in the event with a clinical service game - denying Williams a third title of the year in the process.

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