The women’s final will feature a face-off between top seed Serena Williams and second seed Victoria Azarenka.
Williams survived a tough 7-5, 7-5 battle against Li Na, trading multiple service breaks with her Chinese opponent in both sets. With this victory, Serena earned the 2013 Emirates U.S. Open Series title – awarded to the player with the best cumulative performance at the hard court events leading up to the U.S. Open – giving her the opportunity for an extra $1 million if she wins the U.S. Open.
Williams has won the Emirates U.S. Open Series twice. "It's always exciting to win the [Series], especially being from America and playing all the tournaments in the U.S.A., especially tonight," gushed Williams after her win. "There was so much support out there."
The final match of Saturday evening -- the semifinal between second seed Victoria Azarenka and 14th seed Jelena Jankovic -- featured hard-hitting points that sent both players from side to side along the baseline. Azarenka won the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Williams has a 12-2 record against Azarenka, including the epic three-set final at last year’s U.S. Open. Like Serena, the World No. 2 Azarenka is also competing in her first final at the Western & Southern Open.
The women’s doubles final, which precedes the men’s, will feature Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany with Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic playing against Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Peng Shuai of China.
