Serena Williams left no doubt about the fact that she is the best women's tennis player in the world right now, by breezing past Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul.
Going into the game, Williams was on a nine-match winning streak over Sharapova, and the unstoppable American continued her dominance over the Russian to clinch another big title this year.
"I actually thought about the last time we played at the WTA Championships, and she won, and she's also ranked ahead of me right now, so I really had nothing to lose," Williams said. "I feel great right now.
"This was exactly my dream and I'm so happy I was able to achieve it. And the Turkish fans here are so amazing, so nice and so supportive - I've never seen so many signs with my name on them. I can't even explain how that makes me feel."
Williams is on an incredible run of 48 wins from her last 50 matches, which also includes the Wimbledon, and U.S. Open titles to go along with the gold medal at the London Olympics.
"I would say it's pretty much the best season of my career, a little bit of a slow start though, so I have to give it to 2002 -- but there's always 2013," she added."
Sharapova, was obviously disappointed after the defeat, but felt she had plenty of positives to take from the year in which she completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. "She had another great serving day against me -- I don't think I even had a break point," the Russian said.
"Maybe it was partly me not doing enough on the returns and partly she was serving well -- a few moments when it was 30-all or 15-all, I didn't get a good return in. But that's one of the reasons she's such a great champion and has had a tremendous amount of success in her career.
"But yeah, I've got to keep moving forward. I'm proud of my year. I'm proud of my consistency. I'm proud I'm moving in the right direction in terms of improving my game and where I see it. I've accomplished a lot of things this year I really wanted, and wanted to get back in my career.
"A lot of great memories. Some difficult ones, but a lot of really positive thoughts moving into next year."
Sharapova said this year's season-ending championships had been the best she had played in yet. "I've said it throughout the tournament, that this has been the best WTA Championships I've been a part of," she added. "I only got to play a couple of matches last year, but this year, especially as the week went on, the excitement from the people from the second they call your name onto the court and you're walking out, it's pretty incredible as an athlete to have that sort of positive energy without even hitting a ball.
"The appreciation you have from people's understanding and respect of what you do is really unique.
"I think we were all unsure of how it was going to go in Istanbul because we never had such a big event here, only a smaller one. But we're all really happy. And we have another year here, too."
Meanwhile, the doubles title was won by Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova after the Russian pair beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-1, 6-4.
