titles. Only one number mattered to her Sunday night, though: 1

NEW YORK -- A couple of months before Serena Williams capped her dominant run to a third consecutive U.S. Open championship and 18th major singles title Sunday night, she sat down with coach Patrick Mouratoglou to decipher why the season had been such a struggle by her standards. At the time, Williams was coming off a third-round loss at Wimbledon, which followed a second-round loss at the French Open, which followed a fourth-round loss at the Australian Open -- and, when Grand Slam success defines a legacy, that simply wouldnt do. The quest to match Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova at 18 was weighing on her. It was definitely on my shoulders, Williams could acknowledge after that burden was gone. It was definitely like, Oh, get there. Get there. Get there. She knew, of course, there was one more big event left in 2014, and a finite amount of time to turn things around before heading to Flushing Meadows. In some ways starting from scratch, Williams regrouped and stopped her mini-slump, never dropping more than three games in any set, including a 6-3, 6-3 victory over close friend Caroline Wozniacki in Sundays final. When Serena is on her game, said the 10th-seeded Wozniacki, who admitted she was nervous in her second Grand Slam title match, theres not much we can do. Williams matched Everts total of six U.S. Opens and became the first woman to win three in a row since Everts four-title run from 1975-78. Add in Williams five titles apiece at Wimbledon and the Australian Open, plus two at the French Open, and only three players have more Slams: Margaret Court with 24, Steffi Graf with 22, and Helen Wills Moody with 19. Ranked and seeded No. 1, Williams let Wozniacki keep things competitive for about five games but wound up compiling a hard-to-believe 29-4 edge in winners. Until a cross-court backhand in the final game, the only winners registered by Wozniacki came on aces. When it was over, Williams dropped to her back behind the baseline, covering her hands with her face. Her first major trophy also came in New York, in 1999, when she was 17. This time, Williams earned $4 million, a record in tennis -- $3 million for the title, plus a $1 million bonus for having had the best results during the North American summer hard-court circuit. A few weeks shy of her 33rd birthday, making the American the oldest major champion since Navratilova was 33 at Wimbledon in 1990, Williams powered this way and that in her black-and-pink hightops. Wozniacki is the one training for the New York City Marathon, but she was tuckered out by the end. Wozniacki may as well have been an extra in this Williams highlight reel. Points were directed by Williams, via serves that reached 120 mph (194 kph), forceful returns that backed Wozniacki into a corner when not producing outright winners, unreachable groundstrokes or the occasional volley. From a different planet, said Wozniackis father, Piotr, who also coaches her. Come on, theres no chance. Yes, this was all about Williams. At times, it felt as if Wozniacki were there because, well, someone needed to be on the opposite side of the net. Theyve been pals for years, and they hung out together in Miami -- heading to the beach, watching an NBA playoff game -- after both lost early at the French Open in May. Wozniacki says Williams helped her get over the end of her engagement to golf star Rory McIlroy. Williams said she planned to invite Wozniacki along for Sunday nights championship celebration. Were both going to do anything possible to win the match, said Wozniacki, a 24-year-old from Denmark who reached No. 1 in the rankings in 2010, a year after losing to Kim Clijsters in the U.S. Open final. After the match, were friends again. Mouratoglou noted the obvious: It didnt matter one bit to Williams who she was facing. Yeah, theyre friends, the coach said, but on the other side, believe me, Serena has zero friends. The last time she was at a major, Williams followed her early Wimbledon singles exit with an odd episode in doubles, appearing disoriented and quitting after three games because of what she called a bug. After Wimbledon, I was just so disappointed, Williams said. I also realized I just needed to relax a little more. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I dont have to put pressure on myself. When she met with Mouratoglou after Wimbledon to discuss how to proceed, he recalled Sunday, She coached me. She told me, Look, you are a guy who likes challenges. I am so low. You should be motivated by that. Since that chat in Paris, Williams has won 19 of 20 matches and three titles. Only one number mattered to her Sunday night, though: 18. Arizona Cardinals Jerseys . 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Gonzalez homered, doubled and singled in his return to the lineup, and the Colorado Rockies snapped a five-game losing streak with a 13-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.ATLANTA -- A hot-shooting night has the Atlanta Hawks back in sole possession of a playoff spot. Poor shooting cost the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game they desperately needed. Mike Scott ended a scoring slump with 26 points and the Hawks beat Cleveland 117-98 on Friday night in a costly setback for the Cavaliers late-season playoff push. Atlanta moved one game ahead of the New York Knicks, who lost to Washington 90-89, in the race for the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks had lost seven of eight but recovered with strong games by Scott and Jeff Teague, who had 20 points and 12 assists. "All year and under a lot of difference circumstances weve said we like our group and theyre resilient," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "They played with a lot of focus and effort and attention to detail and all the things we really talk about every night." Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was unhappy to see his team struggle with so much on the line. "They kicked our behind from the beginning to the end," Brown said. The Cavaliers lost an opportunity to move within a game of eighth place. Entering the game, Cleveland had won five of six but fell three games behind the Hawks with only five games remaining in the regular season. Brown was discouraged but stopped short of saying the Cavaliers couldnt recover from the loss. "No, it doesnt feel like its over but the loss is very, very disappointing," Brown said. "The way we lost it looked like we werent playing for much out there." Dion Waiters led Cleveland with 23 points. Spencer Hawes had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Kyrie Irving and Luol Deng each had 13 points. Scott made 12 of 13 shots from the field. The backup forward had a combined 16 points in his past four games. He topped that with 18 in the first half. "Finally," Scott said. "I was in a little shooting slump. I just kept being aggressive and kept gettingg extra shots and they finally fell.dddddddddddd" The Hawks set a season high with 39 first-quarter points, made 58.5 per cent of their shots from the field and never trailed. Atlanta led 39-23 after the first period. "The start that we got off to was something that was important," Budenholzer said. "Defensively, I thought we had a good first quarter. I think that kind of fueled our offence and our ball movement a little bit, taking care of the ball. That gave us the cushion that we were able to keep the rest of the game." The Hawks had 35 assists, three away from their season high. The Cavaliers made only 5 of 21 3-pointers and shot 39.6 per cent from the field overall while playing from behind the full game. "They jumped on us early," said Clevelands Jarrett Jack, who had nine points. "They dictated how this game was going to be played. We were playing an uphill battle all game." The Hawks had six 3-pointers in the big first quarter and 13 for the game. Atlanta committed nine turnovers in the second quarter, but Cleveland still outscored the Hawks only 26-22 in the period and trailed 61-49 at halftime. As Cleveland opened the second half going almost five minutes without a field goal, Teague took over for Atlanta. Teague had nine points in the third period, including three straight baskets and a driving layup to beat the buzzer at the end of the period. Teague added two 3-pointers in the last 3 minutes as the Cavaliers never mounted a serious challenge. Paul Millsap had 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Hawks. Lou Williams also had 16 points and six assists. NOTES: The Hawks completed a sweep of the three-game series. ... After missing one game with a sore right shoulder, Cavs C Anderson Varejao had nine points and five rebounds in 27 minutes. ... 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