French tennis player Aravane Rezai (world No. 24) won the Madrid Masters after beating her American rival, Venus Williams (world No.3), 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 41 minutes this past Saturday in the final. This was Rezai’s third title of her career; she had won titles in 2009 in Strasbourg and Bali.

Last year, she fell in Madrid’s second round. Today she has achieved the greatest success in French women's tennis since Amelie Mauresmo won the Wimbledon final in 2006 over Justine Henin.

Venus, who on Monday morning was in second place of the world rankings, won the doubles title with her sister Serena after beating Argentina's Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta of Italy. But the American couldn’t play at the same level and lost against the French in the singles final.

With a strong game and with great confidence in her service, the European surprised the American in Madrid’s clay court in a lengthy match. The French racquet was 77 percent effective in her service, connecting two perfect serves at 60 percent and four aces against the American superstar. Rezai did not hesitate at any moment, showing confidence from the start of the match. Indeed, in just three games she managed to break Venus’ service.

The Frenchwoman dominated the first set, giving no options to Williams, who was unable to react to the power of her opponent. The world No.24 broke in the third and seventh game and won the first set 6-2.

The second set was more disputed as Williams took a comfortable lead at 4-1, but she was unable to maintain the advantage. When serving for the set with a 5-3 lead, she gave up her serve. The break was motivation for the Frenchwoman, as she first evened the score, then broke Williams’ serve and with her serve won the set with a score of 7-5.

Rezai won five games in a row, with greater mobility and greater leg strength than her rival, who anchored at the bottom of the court and could not level the rhythm of her opponent. This was a great victory and comeback for Rezai.

At the end of the match, Rezai stated she was more than pleased with her performance, as it was the greatest achievement of her professional career.

"It's been the best week of my career. I played very well and I'm very proud of myself, because it was a very tough tournament. I just believed in myself," said the Frenchwoman.

On the other hand, Venus Williams praised Rezai’s game and gave due credit for her victory. Despite losing, Venus stated she felt really confident with her game.

"She played really well; I have to give her credit for that. If she can come out and play like that she'll definitely have good days in the future. I've had a great week this week, and last week. I feel confident in my game and I'm pushing forward with pride into the next tournament," said the world No.2.

Thus with this victory, the native of Saint-Etienne won her first title of the season and the third in her career. Both of her two previous titles were last year.

Despite Venus Williams’ defeat in the Madrid Open finals, she appeared on Monday as the world number two of the WTA rankings, thus ousting Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, who fell in the second round of this competition. Now with the two Williams in the top two spots, the sisters are dominating the tennis circuit for the first time in eight years. The last time the Williams sisters took the top two was in July 2002.

About the Author

Ally White has been a prominent writer on daily Tennis Games reviews, sports news and sports betting industry updates for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.