Serena Williams, Close to Perfect

Doug Mills/The New York TimesSerena Williams in her match against Maria Sharapova in London on Saturday.

On a bright, blustery day on Centre Court in London, Serena Williams dominated Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 to win the Olympic gold medal in women’s singles. The breezy conditions scarcely bothered Williams, as she served and returned with power, disguise, and fearlessness. Williams pounded a thunderous ace up the T on match point, then let out a celebratory yell as the ball thumped into the backstop. It was her 60th ace of the tournament.
Sharapova looked beleaguered from the start, as Williams held with ease and returned serve with astonishing power and consistency. Williams took control of every point with pinpoint serving and controlled aggression on her groundstrokes. Throughout the tournament, Williams made very few unforced errors and looked calm and unflappable throughout the match.
Williams did face two break points at 3-1 in the second set. After holding serve to win her first game of the match, Sharapova raised the level of her return game and pounced on a few forehand returns to move to break point. Williams frequently hits a slice up the middle on break point, but she surprised Sharapova by hitting a flat serve out wide. Sharapova lunged and blocked back a floating return, which Williams dispatched with a swinging forehand volley winner. But Sharapova laced into another forehand return to again move to break point