page_title: 2013 Serena Williams tennis season
section_title: French Open
hierarchical_section_title: 2013 Serena Williams tennis season / Year in detail / Clay court season and French Open / French Open
caption_attribution_description: 2ème tour Roland Garros 2013&#160;: Serena Williams (USA) def. Caroline Garcia (FRA)
context_page_description: The 2013 Serena Williams tennis season officially began on 30 December with the start of the 2013 WTA Tour, and follows on from a 12-match winning streak which began at the end of the 2012 Season. Williams produced the most consistent season in her career reaching 13 finals and winning 11 titles, the most since 12 titles from Martina Hingis in 1997. She also won her second French Open, her first since 2002, as well as her fifth US Open. She also dominated the clay season winning 5 titles and having a 28-0 record on the surface and produced her longest winning streak at 34. Williams also had the best winning percentage of 95.1%, the highest since 1990 and became the first women's player to eclipse the $10 million mark at $12,385,572, beating the previous single-season prize money record of $7.9 million set in 2012 by Victoria Azarenka. Williams finished the year at no. 1, this the third time that Williams ended as the number 1 player in the year. Based on her performance in 2013, she was named 'World Champion' for the fourth time and the second time in a row.
context_section_description: Williams came into the French Open as the favorite, having not lost a match on clay and riding on a 24 match winning streak. Williams also was the top seed and world no. 1 and will come out of the event as the world no. 1 whatever the result of the tournament is. In her opening match, she went up against Anna Tatishvili, where Williams rallied through to win the first nine games dropping only a point on serve before Tatishvili could get a game. Williams then won the remaining three games to advance. In the next round, Williams faced wildcard Caroline Garcia. Williams won the first five games and finished it off the set in the seventh game and then broke twice in the second to take the match. Williams made 27 winners and 9 unforced errors to her opponents 14 a piece. In the third round, Williams took on Sorana Cîrstea. Williams took the first set in a bagel, the second set went on serve until the fifth game, where Williams won the last four games. Williams was 13-16 on winners and unforced errors. In the round of 16, Williams went against the no. 1 doubles player Roberta Vinci, Williams took the first set, dropping only a game. The second set went on serve until Williams broke in the eighth game and closed it out in the next game to win in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Williams faced former French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the first set, Williams cruised through the set dropping only a game with the aid of 15 winners. However, in the second set, Kuznetsova won the first four games. Kuznetsova then served for the set in the ninth game and was up 40-0, however Williams squandered four break points in the game to bring it to a deciding set. Kuznetsova hit 11 winners to Williams' 8, while hitting the same number of unforced errors. Kuznetsova then broke early and had a chance to take a second break in the 3rd game, however Williams saved three break points to hold. Williams then won 5 of the last 6 game to advance to her first French Open semifinal since 2003. In the semifinals, Williams faced last years runner-up Sara Errani. Williams stormed through the first 9 games before Errani could get her only game of the match. Williams then served it out in the seventh game in a 46-minute white wash, dropping only 5 points on serve. Williams hit 40 winners to her opponents 2 and 15 unforced errors to Errani's 3. Chris Evert described this as the finest female performance on clay she had ever seen. Williams faced defending champion and number 2 seed Maria Sharapova in the final. Williams was broken in the second game, but won four of the next five games to gain the lead. Sharapova then broke back in the eight game before Williams went on to break again to take the set in the tenth game. Williams proceeded to play well breaking Sharapova's serve in the second set before serving for the championship in the tenth game. In this service game, Williams fired 3 aces to win her second French Open title 11 years after her first. Williams hit 29 winners-21 unforced errors-10 aces-0 double faults to Sharapova's 10-17-2-4 in comparison. The win improved Williams' win-streak to a career-longest 31 matches. She became the fourth woman in the Open era after Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf to win each Grand Slam title twice or more.
caption: Serena Williams at the French Open against Caroline Garcia.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "2\u00e8me tour Roland Garros 2013 : Serena Williams (USA) def. Caroline Garcia (FRA)", "Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-FZ200", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2013:05:30 04:32:54", "Image Artist": "Yann Caradec", "Image Copyright": "Yann Caradec", "Image ExifOffset": "354", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:05:29 19:08:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:05:29 19:08:41", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1120723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-33/100", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "476/5", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "529", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}