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No. 1 Serena at another milestone -- tie for 5th-most WTA titles

Serena Williams, shown at the 2013 French Open, on Sunday picked up WTA title No. 53 as she keeps atop the women's world tennis rankings. UPI/David Silpa
Serena Williams, shown at the 2013 French Open, on Sunday picked up WTA title No. 53 as she keeps atop the women's world tennis rankings. UPI/David Silpa | License Photo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., July 22 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Serena Williams has pulled into a tie for fifth-most WTA titles with 53.

Williams lost 19 games over five matches in winning the Collector Swedish Open. She beat Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-1 in Sunday's final. It was her seventh championship in 2013 and ran her year's record to 51-3.

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She won her first WTA final in February 1999 and had six titles by the end of that year. Her seven wins this year give her 53 tournament titles for her career, which is tied with Monica Seles for fifth most all-time. She's two back of Lindsay Davenport, who is fourth on the list. The all-time tournament title leader is Martina Navratilova with 167.

Williams has been atop the women's tennis rankings for the last 23 weeks and 146 weeks overall. The 146-week total is sixth-most (Seles is fifth at 178).

Yvonne Meusburger claimed the week's other WTA championship, defeating Andrea Hlavackova 7-5, 6-2 in winning the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies tournament. It was Meusburger's first title but second finals appearance in two weeks. She was the runner-up July 14 in Hungary. Her other title match was in July 2007, also at Gastein.

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She goes from 86th to No. 58 in the rankings, a career high.

The only change in the rankings' Top 10 sees Petra Kvitova move past Marion Bartoli for the No. 7 spot while Bartoli slips to eighth.

No. 4-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska is the top seed at the Bank of the West Classic in California. Williams decided not to try to defend her title there. Radwanska is the only Top 10 player in the two WTA fields this week.

Bojana Jovanovski, No. 37, leads the seedings at the Baku Cup in Azerbaijan.

The women's tennis Top 10 with player's name, home country and rankings points total:

1. Serena Williams, United States, 11,705

2. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 9,235

3. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 8,825

4. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 5,965

5. Li Na, China, 5,555

6. Sara Errani, Italy, 5,100

7. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 4,435

8. Marion Bartoli, France, 4,365

9. Angelique Kerber, Germany, 3,970

10. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 3,660

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