Just a couple of days after becoming the oldest women's player to become world number one, Serena Williams was handed a three-set loss by Victoria Azarenka, the player that lost her No. 1 ranking to the American, in the final of the Qatar Open.

Azarenka clinched the title with a 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 victory over Williams, to snap a nine-match losing streak against the 31-year-old.

"I won't say I didn't feel pressure, I was just really into the match and really focused on what I had to do," Azarenka said. "Near the end she saved a match point with a good serve -- that's what you normally expect to get from Serena when she's in trouble -- a bullet.

"But it wasn't a big deal, really -- I just had to keep my composure and make another opportunity and create another match point."

Azarenka looked every bit the Australian Open champion throughout the tournament, putting in dominating performances on her way to defending her Qatar Open title.

"It feels incredible," she said. "This tournament is really great -- I've mentioned this so many times. It had such a strong field going into it and I'm really glad that in the end of the tournament I'm the one who's holding the trophy.

"I played really well this entire week. It's never easy to play five matches every day with the best players in the world -- but I'm glad I was really consistent this week and achieved my goal."

Consistency was not something that Williams revelled in last week, and the American was disappointed with her effort in the final, racking up a massive 48 unforced errors, which eventually cost her the match.

"48? Oh my gosh, that's so many," Williams said. "On my end it probably wasn't the best quality -- I made so many errors. It was just weird.

"My serve, oh my gosh -- it was just one of those days. I'm having too many of those days. I've got to cut them out. This whole week I just don't think I played my best tennis. But I was fighting every match. I was really excited to make it to the final with the game I was playing all week.

"I can't play that quality game against a top player like Victoria. I have to be able to pick up my game, and I wasn't able to do that today. I stayed at a 2 out of 10, and I really can't play that low.

"But it's good. Honestly I feel great. I feel like there is so much more I can work on, and there's so much room for improvement for me, so the fact that's still available is really exciting."