Live: Williams Dominates to Win Gold

Doug Mills/The New York TimesSerena Williams beat Maria Sharapova to win the gold in the singles tennis match on Saturday. 

Two of the greatest players of the past decade, No. 3 Maria Sharapova and No. 4 Serena Williams, played for the gold medal in women’s singles at the Olympics in London on Saturday, but it was not ever close. Williams routed Sharapova 6-0, 6-1.
Both have won all four Grand Slam tournaments to earn the so-called “career slam,” and now Williams has won an Olympic gold medal to put her in the even more elite category of players to win a “career golden slam,” an accomplishment that had been achieved only by Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, and Rafael Nadal.
Sharapova, who carried the flag for her native Russia in the opening ceremony, first broke into the elite ranks of tennis with a win over Williams on this same stage of Centre Court at Wimbledon, shocking her in the 2004 Wimbledon final to win her first Grand Slam.
But since 2004 it has been all Williams, with the American winning their last eight meetings and now holding a 9-2 head-to-head lead over all. Williams had previously won two gold medals in doubles with her sister Venus in 2000 and 2008.