(MENAFN- Arab Times) Serena Williams won her 20th Grand Slam title and third French Open crown at Roland Garros on Saturday, clawing her way back from a break down in the last set to defeat Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2.
In what was a disjointed affair, the 33-year-old American was coasting to a straight-sets win, a set and 4-1 up against the Czech 13th seed, playing in her first Grand Slam final at the age of 28.
But a combination of serving woes for Williams and some top play from Safarova forced a third set, the fifth of the tournament for the American. She fell 0-2 down in that, but recovered her composure in the nick of time to rattle off six games in a row for the title.
With 20 Grand Slam titles Williams is now second on the Open-era list, two shy of Steffi Graf. She is also now halfway to winning all four Grand Slam titles, in the same year, a feat previously achieved by just three other women, the last being Graf in 1988.
For Safarova, who reached the final without dropping a set, the consolation will be her debut in the world top 10, at number seven. And she has the women's doubles final to follow on Sunday, playing with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
"I played very well and she was a magnificent opponent for me," Williams said.
"She was very aggressive and I was a bit nervous at a set and a break up.
"It's special for me because I don't play well all the time here (in Paris), but I am so pleased to win my 20th Grand Slam here."
Williams had struggled with a bout of the flu throughout the tournament's second week, needing four times to fight back from a set down just to reach the final.
But after two days of "rest and therapy" in her Paris apartment she came out looking somewhat refreshed if more subdued than usual as she stared fixedly at the ground between points.
She played well within herself on serve, taking pace off her first ball and then allowing Safarova an easy hold to level.
But the American upped the pace suddenly in the fourth game, clinching the first break of the match with a scorching forehand crosscourt winner.
Safarova top-edged two returns high up into the crowd as the American continued to crank up the pressure, but the Czech player stayed in touch with a hold for 4-2.
Williams let out two loud "c'mons" as she held serve for the fourth straight time to make it 5-2 and two games later the first set was in the bag in just 31 minutes. Safarova had failed to muster a single break point.
Williams had never failed to win a Grand Slam title on the 17 occasions she had taken the first set, and she honed in on another straight sets win by breaking serve to open the second and then holding to love.
Safarova had a mountain to climb as the crowd tried to rally her, but another service loss saw her fall 4-1 behind.
Out of the blue though Williams, suddenly flung the Brno-born player a lifeline, double-faulting twice to drop serve.
Two games later she was undone again by some loose shot-making and another double fault. Against all the odds and to general surprise, Safarova was level at 4-4.
Williams served for the match at 6-5 after another break, but Safarova produced her best tennis of the final to force the tie-break, which she won easily.
Safarova moved 2-0 up in the third before Williams resurfaced, taking six games in a row for the win.
At 33 years and 254 days Williams is just nine days younger than was Martina Navratilova, who became the oldest Open-era Grand Slam winner at Wimbledon 1990.
She will now switch her focus onto Wimbledon which starts in three weeks where a title win would give her all four Grand Slam crowns at the same time - a feat she previously achieved when she won the 2003 Australian Open.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic beat battling Andy Murray 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 Saturday to reach his third French Open final and stand on the cusp of a career Grand Slam.
The world number one, who knocked out nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, goes on to face eighth-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka in Sunday's title match.
After their thrilling semi-final was halted due to a storm at 3-3 in the fourth set on Friday, Murray levelled the contest at two sets apiece. But the Serb rallied in the decider to wrap up his eighth successive win over his fellow 28-year-old who he had also beaten in January's Australian Open final.
Victory on Sunday would make Djokovic only the eighth man to win all four majors and put him halfway to a rare calendar Grand Slam, a feat achieved by just two men, most recently by Australian great Rod Laver back in 1969.
"This is one of the toughest matches we have had ones we had, no doubt about that," said Djokovic who took his 2015 record to 41 wins against just two defeats, stretching his current streak to 28.
"Five sets over four hours. It's always physical. It's always demanding from every aspect of the game because we have similar styles of play.
"We tend to run each other around and play cat and mouse game, and it's tiring. It's exhausting to play him."
Sunday will be eight-time major winner Djokovic's 16th Grand Slam final and he will start as overwhelming favourite having beaten Wawrinka 17 times in 20 meetings.
For Murray, it was a third semi-final loss at Roland Garros meaning Britain's wait for a first men's finalist since Bunny Austin in 1937 goes on. Djokovic had swept through the first two sets on Friday without facing a break point.
But Murray conjured up a momentum-switching performance in the third set to haul himself back into the match.
That sent Djokovic off court for a lengthy medical timeout and just six more games were possible before the gloom and an approaching storm sent the players back to their hotels for the night after 3 hours and eight minutes on court.
"In the fifth set he was hitting the ball very close to the line, so I ended up doing a lot of defending," admitted Murray.
"I felt like I ended up putting up like six or seven lobs just because he was hitting the ball very close to the line."
Three love games followed Saturday before a 33-shot rally helped Murray to a break of a tense-looking Djokovic for a 6-5 lead and a chance to level the semi-final.
The third seed served it out to set up their third five-set decider and first since the US Open final in 2012 where Murray achieved his first Grand Slam title.
But Djokovic suddenly shook off the shackles for a break and a 2-0 lead. That soon became 5-1 on a double break and the Serb wrapped it up with his eighth ace after more than four hours of action.
Recent French Open women's champions
2015 € Serena Williams (USA); 2014 € Maria Sharapova (RUS); 2013 € Serena Williams (USA); 2012 € Maria Sharapova (RUS); 2011 € Li Na (CHN); 2010 € Francesca Schiavone (ITA); 2009 € Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS); 2008 € Ana Ivanovic (SRB); 2007 € Justine Henin (BEL); 2006 € Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL).
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