Wimbledon 2012: Serena Williams wins fifth singles title

Serena Williams overcame a resurgent Agnieszka Radwanska to clinch a hard-fought 6-1 5-7 6-2 victory and earn her fifth Wimbledon singles title.

The American had eased through the opening set before Radwanska regrouped to win a rain-delayed second set.

But Williams broke twice in the decider to kill off Radwanska's challenge.
The 30-year-old then followed up her success to claim the doubles title with sister Venus, defeating Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-5 6-4.

Her singles victory is Williams's 14th Grand Slam title and follows Wimbledon singles victories in 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2010.

But it is also her first since spending almost a year out of action between summer 2010
and 2011 with a leg injury and subsequent pulmonary embolism.

Wimbledon 2012: Serena Williams & Petra Kvitova reach round four

Serena Williams fought back from a set down and set a new Wimbledon women's record of 23 aces to keep alive her bid for a fifth singles title. Williams, 30, had to dig deep to edge past China's Zheng Jie 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 9-7, while defending champion Petra Kvitova breezed into round four. "I definitely felt like it was a gut check for me," said Williams. "I never felt I would lose. I told myself to stay calm. I'm always strong mentally. That's not going anywhere." The American, who set the previous aces record of 20 in the 2009 semi-final against Elena Dementieva, stumbled in the first-set tie-break. But she romped through the second set before coming out on top in a nail-biting decider after two hours and 28 minutes on Centre Court. "I thought in the third set, if I'm going to go out I want to go out with a bang," said Williams, who served three times to stay in the match, winning each game to love. Williams, the sixth seed, will next play Kazakh wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova, who made history by achieving the first 'golden set' in Grand Slams against Sara Errani . French Open finalist Errani failed to win a single point during a 15-minute first set, in which Shvedova won 24 consecutive points, and eventually fell 6-0 6-4 to the world number 65.
Source: BBC

Serena Williams laughs off bike crash in her annus horribilis

Serena Williams's long absence from tennis as she recovered from blood clots after cutting her foot was not quite the plain sailing she had hoped for as she ended up spilling more blood in a bike crash last year.

Last October Williams was recuperating and testing her foot while trying to decide if another operation was necessary when she crashed her pink beach cruiser near her home in Florida.

"I just couldn't control the speed and I fell," the defending Wimbledon champion told reporters on Saturday after advancing to the last 16 with a straight-sets win over Russian Maria Kirilenko.

"It was horrible, it was actually really funny because everyone was laughing at me but I have this horrible scar on my shoulder.

"There was an ambulance that happened to be driving by and I was so embarrassed, because my community is -- elder people live there. They came over and asked if I was okay and I was like 'get away from me, I don't need you'," she laughed.

"It was painful, but I was able to recover.I got back on that bike and I rode home. So I'm back here and I'm playing again."