Serena Williams has been crowned champion of the 2013 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Toronto, as fans at Rexall Centre saw the 16-time Slam winner exert her dominance over Romanian Sorana Cirstea, 6-2, 6-0, in the final on Sunday.

 

The win has earned Williams her third Rogers Cup championship, the first two coming in 2001 and 2011, also in Toronto. For Cirstea, the loss ends her incredible run at this year’s event, which saw her knock out two former world No. 1s and two former Grand Slam champions en route to the final.

 

Williams had a smooth run to Final Sunday, ousting Francesca Schiavone, Kirsten Flipkens, Magdalena Rybarikova and Agnieszka Radwanska along the way without so much as dropping a set. The current world No. 1 played a nearly perfect match against Cirstea, who appeared nervous and double-faulted twice in the first set to give Williams an early lead.

 

Cirstea was able to bring the first set to 3-2, but those were the last games she would mark on the scoreboard, as Williams easily won the next three games to close out the first set, 6-2.

 

The second set saw classic dominant play coming from Wiliams, who bageled her opponent in less than half an hour on the court. Despite her nearly flawless play, Williams still asserted that today’s match was a challenge.

 

"She had nothing to lose, so it wasn't going to be easy for me today, and I knew that I would have to play better today than what I did last night," said Williams. "I think she played well.  I mean, I don't know the stats, but I don't think there were too many love games.  We had some long rallies. I mean, we both hit a few unforced errors, but I told my coach, I said, I thought she played really well today."

 

Cirstea’s loss wasn’t for a lack of support, as Rexall Centre was scattered with fans donning Romanian flags and chanting "Sorana" in praise of the underdog.

 

"It was an incredible atmosphere and made me feel like home," said Cirstea. "The whole time when they were screaming, they were just like always supporting me and saying positive things. It was very, very nice to see, and I'm very grateful for their support."

 

Her run to the final, in which she recorded impressive wins over Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Petra Kvitovaand Li Na, should bring Cirstea to a new career-high ranking of world No. 21 when the new rankings are released on Monday.