Serena Williams wins Rogers Cup in romp

Serena Williams insists it's not as easy as it looks.

The top-ranked woman breezed to her third Rogers Cup title Sunday at Toronto with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea. This was her eighth WTA title of the year and the 54th of her career.

She didn't drop a set all week and lost only 22 games, almost half that total against third-seed Agnieszka Radwanska in a semifinal that proved her only real test in this U.S. Open tuneup.

With the absence of top-five players Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, and the early exit of Wimbledon champ Marion Bartoli, all because of injury, Williams faced few obstacles in her path to the title.

"No tournament is ever easy, especially being in the position I am in," she said. "The tournament starts and they expect you to win. And the tournament is like, "You're going to be in the final and after your semifinal I want you to do this, and you have to do this and this press.' Who knows if I'll even make it to the semifinals? It's a lot of pressure. It's not easy."

Williams plays this week in Cincinnati and will be the defending champion at the U.S Open. Despite having lost only one match since March, a stunning early exit at Wimbledon, she says she can still improve.

"For me it's always about constantly improving and never saying "I did great and I can be satisfied,"' she said. "I did great (today), but what can I do better? What can I improve on? That's what I always strive for. When I get satisfied, and for a lot of players, the (playing) level goes down."

Cirstea was appearing in only her third WTA final and looking to build on her only title - in 2008 at Tashkent. This tournament proved a breakthrough. She ousted two former No. 1 players (Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki) before defeating defending champion Petra Kvitova in the quarters and fourth-seeded Li Na in the semifinals.

"For me it's been a really positive week and I'm going to take everything that well to the next tournament," she said.

Cirstea was unsteady from the opening game, double-faulting the first point and again at 30-40 to give Williams an early break. Williams broke again for 3-0 after Cirstea sent a backhand wide. That prompted a visit from her Australian coach, Darren Cahill.

The pep talk appeared to work momentarily. Cirstea won four straight points to break back and held serve at 3-2. But Williams quickly removed any chance of an upset, winning two straight games and acing a winner to make it 6-2.

"The start was not as bad as the scored showed," Cirstea said. "The first three games I had really good chances so I could have been up three-love. Suddenly I found myself down three-love. I know the score seems quite tough but there were moments when I felt the match was closer than it seemed."

With shouts of "Sorana" and "Serena" volleying around the stadium, splashes of Romania's blue, yellow and red could be seen dotting the Rexall Centre stands on a warm, sunny afternoon.

"I was surprised to see how many Romanians there were out there and how many flags I've seen," she said. "It was an incredible atmosphere and it made me feel like home when they were screaming, supporting me and saying positive things. I'm looking forward to coming back here."

But Cirstea's contingent had even less to cheer for in the second set. Williams used her trademark power strokes to keep Cirstea running and ripped an ace to hold serve at 2-0.

Cirstea, her head hanging low, again called for Cahill. But it didn't do much good. Williams eased through the final four games and wrapped up the match in just more than hour.

Williams earned $426,000 for the victory. Cirstea takes home $213,000, almost half her prize money so far this year.

Cirstea became teary during the trophy presentation.

"Usually I'm quite emotional," she said. "Of course, I was disappointed because I wanted to play better, so it's mixed feelings out there. I think even if I won today I would still be crying."

All three of Williams' Rogers Cup titles have come in Toronto, the others in 2001 and 2011. She says she loves playing in this city because of the friends who come to see her play. Local hip-hop star Drake, also present for her 2011 win, cheered her from courtside.

"We're really good friends," Williams said. "I was excited that he made it today."

Nadal beats Raonic in Montreal final

Rafael Nadal beat Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-2 in the Rogers Cup final, spoiling Raonic's bid to become the first Canadian winner in the event in 55 years.

Robert Bedard, the last Canadian to win what was then called the Canadian Open in 1955, was in attendance to see Nadal claim his third Rogers Cup title. The Spanish star also won in 2005 and 2008.

"To win here, I have to be playing my top level," Nadal said. "Very happy the way that I played almost every match in this tournament. Is very important for me, this title. Just very happy for everything."

Raonic was the first Canadian since the now 81-year-old Bedard even to reach the final.

"The tournament overall was a great thing," Raonic said. "There were a lot of situations that I'm very happy with the way I dealt with them, and there were a lot of learning experiences through it all.

"A lot of stepping stones that I need to do in my career happened this week, so that's great. The match, obviously I'm a little disappointed with myself. I would have hoped to deal with that situation a little bit better."

Nadal, playing his first tournament since a first-round loss at Wimbledon in June, posted his eighth tournament win this year and the 58th of his career. On Saturday night in the semifinals, Nadal beat two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2).

"I did a lot of things well," Nadal said. "My return was huge this afternoon. I returned a few first serves of his in important moments, decisive. Then I think he play with more mistakes than usual. That helped me."

By reaching the final, the 22-year-old Raonic will move up to 10th in world rankings, a record for a Canadian. He will be the youngest player in the top 10. Nadal will move from fourth to third.

"With his serve, his chance to be in the top 10 for a long time is very good," Nadal said. "Then what you need is to work on the mental part and in the game from the baseline, to try to play the right way on the important points. I think he will do it. He's still young. He's having great results. This week is going to be very important for him and for tennis in Canada in general."

Raonic has worn different colored Davis Cup-style shirts with a maple leaf over the heart all week, but saved a red-and-white one for the final. It didn't help as Nadal needed just 1 hour, 8 minutes to win.

The Uniprix Stadium crowd was solidly behind Raonic throughout the one-sided match.

Nadal's all-around game, particularly his superior passing shots and baseline play, proved too much for the power-hitting Raonic, who was only effective in games in which his booming serve was working.

On a windy afternoon, Nadal had two service breaks in the first set, including one after trailing 0-40, and broke again to open the second. At 2-1 in the second set, Raonic wasted three break points to let his best chance for a break slip away.

The Spaniard broke again for a 5-2 lead and served out the match.

Nadal is 4-0 against Raonic in his career.

Nadal stretched his record for wins in Masters series tournaments to 25 with his fourth this year. He is 48-3 and has reached the final of 10 out of 11 tournaments in 2013.

Raonic's victory over Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., on Saturday marked the first time two Canadians were in the semifinals of an ATP Tour event since Andrew Sznajder and Martin Wosterholme in 1990 at Rio de Janeiro.

The last Canadian to get that far in the Rogers Cup, then called the Canadian Open, was Mike Belkin of Montreal in 1969.