S. Williams moves to sixth in rankings

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., May 14 (UPI) -- Serena Williams collected her 41st career WTA title in Madrid and moved to No. 6 in the updated women's world tennis rankings.

Williams ran past world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 to cap a week in which she also beat No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3. The 41 WTA championships tie Kim Clijsters for second most among active players, two behind Venus Williams, who owns the 10th most all-time among WTA players.

Serena Williams has 13 wins over No. 1-ranked players, which is the most among active players.

She is also unbeaten on clay courts this year, with this week's high-profile Italian Open on clay in Rome coming just two weeks before the French Open. Williams is among nine Top 10 players in the draw in Rome. No. 10 Vera Zvonareva, who has a shoulder injury, is missing the tournament.

Sharapova defeated Samantha Stosur in last year's Italian Open final

The Top 5 in the rankings are the same as last week.

Azarenka is No. 1 with 9,020 points. She's been No. 1 for 17 weeks, which ties her with Sharapova and Jennifer Capriati for No. 15 on the list of most weeks on top of the WTA rankings.

Sharapova has 7,610 points while Agnieszka Radwanska is third with 7,080 followed by Petra Kvitova (6,250) and Stosur (5,435).

Williams pulls up to 5,300 points in the No. 6 spot, with Marion Bartoli (4,945) still seventh. Caroline Wozniacki (4,936) slips from sixth to No. 8 and Li Na (4,405) is down one place to ninth. Zvonareva has 3,640 points.