South Florida athlete Serena Williams dominated Russia’s Maria Sharapova to claim the women’s singles gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games Saturday, 6-0, 6-1.
Williams swept Sharapova in the first set and didn’t give her much more breathing room in the second.
She jumped up and down, fists and racket in the air, at the moment of victory.
Her sister Venus Williams is also an Olympics singles gold medal champion.
Serena Williams, 31, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, won on Wimbledon’s grass courts – where she claimed her fifth Wimbledon singles title earlier this summer.
“I think today I just played well. She fought so hard, and I love that about her,” Williams said of Sharapova, who she has beaten the last eight times they’ve played. “And oh my gosh, I got the gold. Wow!”
Williams already won gold medals in doubles with Venus in Sydney in 2000 and in Beijing in 2008.
They’re contending for yet another Olympics title at London, and advanced to the 2012 final with a 7-5, 6-5 victory over Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova of Russia on Saturday.
The Americans will play Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic in the final on Sunday.
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"We've put ourselves in a good position," said Venus Williams, who lives with her sister in Palm Beach Gardens. "We'll try to go for it again tomorrow. It's amazing to do it with your sister."
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Sharapova was nominally the higher seed Saturday – third, compared to fourth for Serena Williams – but that didn’t matter, as Williams controlled the match from start to finish. They played for a little more than an hour.
Williams said she didn’t expect to win an Olympics singles gold.
“I didn’t think it could get any better than winning Wimbledon. You see how happy I am,” she said.
