Serena Williams breaks 3-year title drought at ASB Classic

Serena Williams broke a three-year title drought when she beat fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win singles final at ASB Classic.

Williams hn’t won a title since Australian Open singles in January, 2017, and t since she became a mor to her daughter Olympia, who was court-side to see victory.

23-time major winner donated her $43,000 winner’s check to fundraising appeal for victims of Australian wildfires, joining many or tennis stars, such as Ash Barty, Nick Kygrios, vak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova, who have pledged money to alrey months-long fire emergency re.

Williams was under pressure at first against 25-year-old Pegula, playing in her third WTA final, but asserted herself more as match went on to claim her 73rd win in 98 finals and to d her name to a trophy won by her sister, Venus, in 2015.

“It feels good. It’s been a long time,” Williams said. “I think you can see relief on my face.

“I played an incredible opponent today in Jessica and, honestly, it was a great match and I couldn’t have played anyone better in final.”

last three years have been challenging for Williams as she juggled to competing demands of tennis and morhood. But she seemed to turn a corner during a demanding week in which she played both doubles and singles, turning out on all seven days of tournament.

She was frequently behind in her matches but showed typical determination to fight her way to final and overcome Pegula, who ousted former World . 1 Caroline Wozniacki in semifinals.

Pegula has been on a stey climb up rankings since overcoming a serious knee injury two years ago. daughter of Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, she won her maiden WTA title in 2019 and appeared to be a star on rise in all her matches in Auckland.

Pegula broke Williams in opening game and was dominant for first half of first set, moving Williams around to open up court for her punishing passing shots. She also chased down everything, making returns that Williams thought out of her reach.

But Williams visibly called on herself to lift near middle of set, breaking to level at 3-3. She n held serve to love and broke Pegula for 5-3, serving out first set in 51 minutes.

Williams broke Pegula to love in third game of second set as she steily began to dominate. She h three match points on Pegula’s serve before clinching match on serve in just over 90 minutes.

“It definitely feels good,” Williams said. “It feels that I was definitely improving as week went on.”