Serena Williams won her 16th Grand Slam title today and her first French Open championship since 2002, beating familiar foil Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4. Today's victory completed the top-ranked Williams' rebound from a shocking loss to 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano in the first round at Roland Garros a year ago. Since that defeat, she's 74-3, including titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, the London Olympics, and the season-ending WTA Championships.
Williams has won a career-best 31 consecutive matches. She improved to 14-2 against Sharapova, including victories in their past 13 meetings, with four of the wins this year. At 31, Williams became the oldest woman to win a major title since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1990 at age 33. See Bleacher Report for more. (More Serena Williams stories.)