Golden Slam for Williams tightens rankings

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Serena Williams collected the gold medal at the Olympics but silver medalist Maria Sharapova was the one to improve her world women's tennis ranking.

Williams, No. 4 in the world, won the first nine games of Saturday's gold medal match en route to a 6-0, 6-1 pasting of Sharapova. Williams was sharp throughout the tournament, beating world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals and never losing more than three games in any set. Azarenka defeated Maria Kirilenko for the bronze medal.

The win gave Williams the Golden Slam, putting the Olympic gold medal alongside her 14 major tournament titles. She and her sister Venus also won their third Olympics women's doubles gold.

Williams narrowed the rankings points distance between her and a potential return to the No. 1 ranking. The results in London pulled her to less than 800 points of Azarenka.

The only change in the Top 10 was Sharapova's move from third to second. She switched places with Agnieszka Radwanska, who dropped a first-round match in the Olympic tournament.

Azarenka, who has 8,820 points, has been No. 1 for the last five weeks and 24 weeks overall. Sharapova is 100 points behind at 8,720 while Radwanska has 8,260 and Williams, ranked No. 4, improves to 8,045 points.

Samantha Stosur comes in fifth with 6,195 followed by No. 6 Petra Kvitova (5,275) and seventh-rated Angelique Kerber at 5,225. Carolina Wozniacki (4,206) sits in the eighth spot with Sara Errani (3,620) and Marion Bartoli (3,400) rounding out the Top 10.

In last week's WTA tournament, Magdalena Rybarikova defeated the three top seeds in winning the title of the Citi Open in Washington. It was her third tournament championship and boosts her ranking from No. 102 to 67th.