Nov. 2, 2009 (United Press International) -- Serena Williams, finishing off her most lucrative year in women's tennis with a win at the Sony (NYSE:SNE) Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERICY) Championships, is again ranked No. 1 in the world.
Williams bested sister Venus Williams 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) Sunday and completed an undefeated run through the championships in Doha, Qatar. That earned her a check for $1.55 million and pushed her 2009 winnings to $6.19 million.
She is the first woman to top $6 million in a year. The previous WTA record was $5.43 million by Justine Henin in 2007.
The win also returned Williams to the No. 1 ranking, displacing Dinara Safina, who narrowly moved to No. 1 last Monday. But Safina was unable to complete, outside of part of one match, at Doha because of a back injury. She'll end the year No. 2.
Svetlana Kuznetsova held onto her No. 3 ranking with the standings of No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 5 Elena Dementieva also unchanged.
Venus Williams is up one spot to No. 6, switching places with new No. 7 Victoria Azarenka. Jelena Jankovic is ranked eighth ahead of No. 9 Vera Zvonareva and No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska.
