Serena Williams Clinches No. 1 World Ranking

Sep 7, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Serena Williams (USA) at the trophy presentation after recording match point against Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) in the women

Serena Williams will finish the tennis season as the number one ranked women’s tennis player in the world, thanks to a Maria Sharapova loss.

Women’s tennis has a familiar face atop the year-end rankings, thanks to a tough set loss by no. 2 Maria Sharapova in the WTA Final. Serena Williams ran the table in 2014, going wire-to-wire as the top-ranked women’s tennis player in the world. It was the second straight year in which she’s ranked no. 1 and her fourth overall.

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Sharapova loss one set to Agnieszka Radwanska, which was enough to set her back in the round robin and end her run at Williams’ perch atop the tennis world. Even more heartbreaking about that loss is the fact that Sharapova led 5-1 in that second set before Radwanska rallied back for a 7-6 (4) victory. Sharapova won the first and third sets, but it wasn’t enough as the round robin already determined her fate.

“I think she [got] tight a little bit,” Radwanska said per Sports Illustrated. “And then I think it was easier for me to play. I think [I felt] not so many nerves like in the beginning of the match.”

Sharapova, meanwhile, was distraught over a loss in which she knew she should have been the better player. “[Radwanska’s 115 kph serves] are just serves I should be able to punish and get easier points,” Sharapova said. “But on a court like this that gives her the time to get back, that’s what she loves. A little bit impatient, her doing a great job of retrieving it deep and making me hit another ball, yeah, kind of one thing after the other.”

Serena Williams held the no. 1 rank every week this season, but still had to sweat out that set with Sharapova to clinch her seat atop women’s tennis. She can now look forward to gunning for a three-peat in 2015.

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