Serena beats Sharapova in Madrid Open final to stay as number one

Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova in the Madrid Open final to win her 50th career singles title which also saw her maintain her World number one spot on the rankings.

The defending champion won 6-1 6-4, seeing out the match in a little over one and a quarter hours.

If only Sharapova had won, she would have displaced Serena for the number one spot on the rankings.

She becomes only the 10th woman in history to reach the 50 singles tour title milestone. It was Williams's first final on red clay in over 10 years, her last being at the 2002 French Open when she beat sister Venus for her only title at Roland Garros.

French open is next in about 2 weeks.