September 27, 2004 c Getty Images Player of the Week: Serena Williams BEIJING, China - Though she was clearly playing in Beijing, Serena Williams may have felt like the China Open was being contested in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The American survived challenged from four separate players from Russia as she won her first title in more than five months on Sunday at the China Open. Serena's effort was good enough to garner this week's WTATour.com Player of the Week honors. Having not played since her quarterfinal loss to Jennifer Capriati at the US Open, Williams made her debut in China in search of her first title since winning the NASDAQ-100 Open back in April. Her week got off to a rough start against Dinara Safina. After winning the first set, Williams dropped the second and was down 3-1 in the third. Not wanting to suffer back-to-back losses since 2000, the top seed rallied to get back in the match, winning the final five games of the match. In the quarterfinals, Williams was fortunate enough to get a break when her second Russian opponent of the week, No.5 seed Nadia Petrova, suffered an ankle sprain early in the second set and retired at 62 4-1. Up next was Russian opposition No.3, this time coming from No.4 seed Vera Zvonareva. But Serena didn't lose her focus and cruised through to her fourth final of the year with a 62 63 win. Awaiting Williams in the final would be her fourth Russian opponent of the week and clearly her toughest challenge to the title - No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. The new US Open champion came into the match carrying a 14-match winning streak and needed just one more victory to secure her third straight title - one to go along with her trophy from Flushing Meadows and the one collected the week prior in Bali. But down a set and a pair of match points, Serena rallied to get herself back in the match and eventually took the title in three sets, her second title of 2004. The 25th title of her career came on her 23rd birthday and also ended her longest title drought since winning her first title back in 1999. One of the most surprising things for Williams was the crowd support she received, not only during the final but from her entire stay in Beijing. "I didn't realize I was so popular here," Williams said. "I'm so glad I have a lot of fans in Beijing. I just love my support over here." -- ---禪心已作沾泥絮，莫向春風舞鷓鴣--- --

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