CARLSBAD, Calif. — Venus Williams still enjoys playing tennis — and winning tournaments.
"I am not getting bored with tennis, because mentally I am mainly the whole time fighting with myself to keep the ball in play and not make errors," Williams said after beating sixth-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Acura Classic for the third straight year.
"I am not tired of tennis," Williams stressed. "I feel that I have quite a few years left to do quite well in this sport."
Williams relied on her power game and outstanding court coverage at La Costa Resort and Spa to win her 27th WTA tournament. Williams, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is the only player to win three consecutive La Costa tournaments in 19 years.
"It is really nice to keep coming back to a tour that is so familiar and where winning is so familiar," Williams said. "I just had a great day."
Williams, ranked second in the world behind sister Serena, had no trouble in defeating Dokic in 55 minutes.
Dokic, ranked fifth in the world, had a 2-1 lead in the first set before Williams won five games in a row to win the set.
Dokic held her serve to win the first game of the second set, but Williams came back to win four consecutive games to take a 4-1 lead and cruise to the win.
Williams won $115,000 in prize money and a new car, while Dokic won $60,000 in prize money. Williams is now 3-1 in her career against Dokic.
In the doubles final, fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia and Janette Husarova of Slovokia defeated third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-2, 6-4.
Dokic played with a stomach virus, which she said weakened her before and during the match.
"Just generally, physically, I wasn't feeling well," Dokic said. "I was very tired from the last two days. I think that I was run down and tired and it came down all at once. It was a lot tennis and not much recovery time."
The statistics told the whole story. Williams had 23 winners and 24 unforced errors, while Dokic had only five winners and 26 unforced errors. Williams won 72 percent of her first serves and 60 percent of her second serves, and Dokic won 52 percent of her firsts and only 35 percent of her seconds.
Williams converted on 90 percent (9-10) of her net approaches while Dokic converted on only 42 percent (5-12).
"I hit two or three unbelievable drop shots and in two steps Venus was there to hit winners," Dokic said. "I am happy that I got to the final. I'm a little disappointed today, but compared to last year I am playing a lot better on the hard court."
On Saturday in the semifinals, Williams defeated third-seeded Lindsay Davenport 6-2, 6-1 while Dokic defeated Anna Kournikova of Russia 6-7 (6), 7-6 (2), 6-0.