This is the other side of the wonder that is Serena Williams.
Serena Williams "not even thinking about" U.S. Open?
Williams, who just more than a month ago couldn't even bounce a tennis ball on the sport's biggest stage, on Sunday showed off her dominant self in beating Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-1 in the finals of the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio.
She needed just 62 minutes to put away Ivanovic, who needed 2 hours and 45 minutes to beat Maria Sharapova in the semifinals on Saturday.
Surprisingly, it was Williams' first-ever Western & Southern Open championship. Her previous best finish was a finals appearance last year, in which she lost to Victoria Azarenka.
Serena Williams invites the media to continue asking questions about her Wimbledon behavior
"Definitely my best performance of the summer," she said, according to ESPN.com. "Hopefully not the last. This is definitely a level that can take me to the (U.S. Open) title. I still have a lot of work to do. It's definitely a better level than I've played all year, to be honest."
Williams did not advance past the fourth round in any of the first three Grand Slam events this season; yet her bounce-back performance this week makes her the favorite to capture the U.S. Open, which begins on Aug. 25.
Williams struggled with a tight back muscle during her semifinals win over Caroline Wozniacki that lingered early during Sunday's match as Ivanovic took an early 3-1 lead in the first set. But as Williams began to move better, she dominated.
Feeling better certainly is an understatement for Williams, who endured a month of speculation after her bizarre withdrawal from a Wimbledon doubles match in which she looked disoriented, struggled to catch any bouncing balls in warmups and couldn't get her serve over the net.
The video of her performance went viral, and rumors about her relationship with boyfriend/coach Patrick Mouratoglou spread like wildfire. Serena, who has had her share of controversy during her career, kept up the trend of adding to the speculation by saying only that she was "under the weather" at Wimbledon and would seek more medical tests after the season.
After her victory against Ivanovic, there doesn't seem to be a need.
"It's the biggest final I've been in in a while. It feels good to be part of it," she said. "There are still a few points in my game that I feel I need to work on for the U.S. Open and also for the end of season. Definitely exciting times."
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