Serena Williams

Facing her only test of the past two weeks, No. 1-seed Serena Williams overcame No. 2 Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-1 on Sunday for the U.S. Open championship, her 17th Grand Slam title.

At the end, and only at the very end, did Serena Williams face anything resembling a challenge in her U.S. Open semifinal.

Serena Williams avenged her major loss to Sloane Stephens, pulling away from the young American for a 6-4, 6-1 win to return to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

BASTAD, Sweden -- Serena Williams won her 53rd WTA title by beating Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the Swedish Open on Sunday. The 24-year-old Swede broke to lead 3-1 in the first set before Williams fought back to 3-3. Larsson advanced to 4-3 before caving in to the American's strong serve and losing the next three games...

For 34 matches over 4½ months, on hard, clay or grass courts, Serena Williams was unbeaten -- and, in the minds of many, unbeatable. So it was apt, somehow, that the longest winning streak in women's tennis since 2000 would end at this memorably unpredictable edition of Wimbledon, where even five-time champion Williams looked lost at the start and, most surprisingly of all, the finish of her fourth-round match.

What a stark statistic for the nation of Bill Tilden and Don Budge, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi: It's been 101 years since no men from the United States reached Wimbledon's third round.

After a week filled by a headline-grabbing, off-court tiff with Maria Sharapova and a series of apologies stemming from a magazine profile, Serena Williams got back to doing what she does best. Extending her winning streak to 32 matches, Williams began her bid for a sixth Wimbledon championship with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over 92nd-ranked Mandy Minella of Luxembourg on Tuesday.

As her agent nodded along approvingly from a front-row seat, Serena Williams sounded contrite and composed. Well-rehearsed, too. More than half the questions at Sunday's session revolved around what Williams was quoted as saying in a recent magazine article -- and Maria Sharapova's surprisingly forceful verbal swipe in reaction to that story.

MELBOURNE, Australia - Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams are in the same half of the draw at the Australian Open, setting up the possibility of a semifinal match between the defending champion and the title favorite.

Rafael Nadal has confirmed he is ready to return to competitive tennis at the end of the month in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, following a six-month break to recover from a knee injury.