Serena Williams Wins Third Consecutive US Open, Sixth Total

Serena Williams rescued her season with a lopsided victory over Caroline Wozniacki to win her 18th grand slam title in a final that flirted with towering mediocrity, was restored to passable competence and finished with merciful speed in a dribble of errors.

Her 6-3, 6-3 defeat Sunday of good pal Caroline Wozniacki in Sunday’s U.S. Open final – her sixth in New York and third consecutive – comes 15 years later, the longest span between Grand Slam titles in history.

She stands alongside Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova now, and four behind Steffi Graf as major winners in the Open era, but still trailing Helen Wills Moody (19) and Margaret Court (24) in the history of the game.

“I’m sure you have your ups and downs, and every time she’s so competitive,” said five-time Grand Slam champion Hingis, who is one year older than Williams and reached the women’s doubles final. “I mean there’s no words. I mean Serena is Serena. Geez. Wow.”

In a season where eight different women reached Grand Slam finals, Williams cemented her status as the top player. But it took the biggest stage and home turf for Williams to win her first major of 2014.

“It was a wonderful finish [to the slam season],” a sobbing Williams said courtside. “Of all the struggles we’ve been through, we’ve texted each other nearly every day.”

It was the third year in a row here that the final entertained two players who have been ranked the best on their Tour, although you would not have guessed so had you arrived from Mars and witnessed opening exchanges that were more like botched handshakes than blows of mean intent.

Williams is a wonderful player. The second set was marginally more competitive yet it had the unmistakable air of a slow walk towards a disappearing target, the last of Wozniacki’s 15 unforced errors floating long. The applause was that of relief as much as celebration.