Fifth seeded Serena Williams captured her 40th career WTA title by overpowering ninth seeded Czech Lucie Safarova 6-0, 6-1 at the Charleston claycourt tournament Sunday. The 13-time Grand Slam winner needed just 58 minutes to dispatch Safarova in her first final appearance since last year's US Open when she lost to Samantha Stosur. This marked Serena's first WTA title since turning 30 in September and she is the first 30-year-old to win on the green clay in Charleston since Martina Navratilova in 1990. Serena, who did not drop a set in Charleston, improved to a perfect 5-0 against world No. 26 Safarova. She won her quarterfinal match when German Sabine Lisicki retired after 40 minutes in the first set with a foot injury. Serena hammered five aces, won 20 of 25 first serve points and saved four of four break point chances on Sunday. She now needs one more title to tie Kim Clijsters (41) for 13th place on the WTA all-time list. This marked the second Charleston title for Serena who also won here in 2008. “She was amazing,” said Safarova, who fell to 0-5 against Serena. “She deserves to be the champion.” Serena earned $115,000 for the victory, a far cry from the first Family Circle in 1973 that offered a then-unheard of $100,000 in total prize money. “I want to thank, Billie,” Serena said. “Without her, I don't know if any of us would be here.” And Serena may be prepared to win even more this clay-court season. She's not scheduled to play again until next month in Madrid, then at the Italian Open before moving on the Paris for the year's second Grand Slam, the French Open. Safarova was a heavy underdog against Serena, despite her one-sided 6-0, 6-0 win over Polona Hercog in the semifinals. Serena had even impressed herself with her powerful showing in the semifinals beating Sam Stosur 6-1, 6-1. Serena needed less than an hour to dispatch the second-seeded Australian – the woman who beat her in last year's US Open final – and progress to the decider of this clay-court tournament. “It was just one of those days that I could have done anything against anybody,” Serena said. “I have to say this is probably the best match I've played in my career, either in a long time or it's up there in the top five,” Serena added.
