Caroline Wozniacki has managed to stave off a late-charge from Venus Williams at the WTA Finals in Singapore to win the title match 6-4 6-4.
Williams was a set and 0-5 down on Sunday, with Wozniacki serving for the match.
It looked like an impossible task but like the champion that she is, Williams hung tough, showing a combination of grit and skill as she made Wozniacki chase balls that seemed to fly off her racquet at a dizzying speed.
The American reeled off four straight games to go from 0-5 down to 4-5, forcing an increasingly nervous Wozniacki to serve for the match for a third time.
Eventually she closed it out and lifted the Billie Jean King Trophy.
"I kind of felt like it was a little bit of an uphill battle, to be honest," Wozniacki said.
"I knew she was stepping it up, she had nothing to lose at that point, and she really went for it.
"I just had to keep reminding myself that I'm still up and I'm the one who is leading here, and I'm the one who can close out this match right now."
Wozniacki said the key to her victory was the pressure on Williams' serve.
"I think I got a lot of her serves back, and obviously she has a big first serve, but at the same time, I tried to keep pressure on her and tried to take a little bit of time away and stay a little bit closer to the baseline," she said.
After a close first set, Wozniacki hit the accelerator, winning five consecutive games and serving for the set.
It left Williams with a lot of work to do, but she began to do that work.
From 0-5 down she sending shots every which way and leaving Wozniacki rattled.
Wozniacki argued with the chair umpire at one stage about fans yelling as she stepped up to serve and she and Victor, her father and coach, had a very long talk at a change of ends.
But it was eventually just too much for Williams, with an unforced error count of 32 to eight against her proving telling in the end.
"She played really well the whole match. You know, I played well parts of the match and tried my best," Williams said.
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