Serena Williams of the U.S. celebrates after defeating Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during their women's quarter-final match at the US Open tennis tournament in New York
Serena Williams of the U.S. celebrates after beating Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in their women's quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York on Wednesday. Reuters

Serena Williams won the U.S. Open women's singles title at Flushing Meadows in New York on Sunday, beating the world's No. 1 player Victoria Azarenka -- 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 -- in a dramatic final match to capture her 15th career grand slam title.

Through sheer force of will as much as her unquestionable skill, the American showed all her great fighting qualities to claw her way back from the brink of defeat at the hands of the Belarusian to become the oldest women's champion at Flushing Meadows in nearly four decades.

Against the odds after losing the first set, Azarenka looked to be on the verge of an unlikely victory when she led 5-3 in the decider.

She got within two points of winning the championship, but she was unable to prevent Williams reeling off the last four games in a row to seal her fourth U.S. Open title and enhance her status as one of the greatest players the game has seen.

(Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by Ian Ransom)

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