From blowout to battle, Serena Williams held on to hoist the Sony Ericsson Open Cup for the second straight year Saturday as she beat Serbian Jelena Jankovic in front of a capacity crowd in three sets, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

“Jelena is a great fighter. She seems to always be down match point and comes back,” Williams said. “I think the crowd was really into the match, and I have so many friends here, it’s like playing at home.”

Entering the match, Jankovic led the all-time match up 3-2 against Williams, but Serena held the momentum, finishing off two top-5 players over the past week – including world No. 1 Justine Henin – en route to the finals.

After shutting Jankovic out in the first set and leading three-love in the second, Williams seemed a shoo-in for her second straight. Jankovic battled cold-like symptoms throughout the match and was visibly fatigued early on.

But Jankovic held tough and fought back game-by-game, taking the second set 7-5. Both players visibly drained from the South Florida heat, Jankovic took an injury time out at the beginning of the third to treat her illness, and Williams was afforded some much-needed rest.

“I started to feel a little bit dizzy on the court and my ears were popping like when you’re on an airplane,” Jankovic said. “I tried not to think about it. I tried just to play the game and enjoy it and have fun.”

Back to the blowout – Williams started the third by winning five straight games and took the sixth to championship point before Jankovic fought back to deuce and took her first game of the third.

“I started making a lot of mistakes,” Williams said. “I was just feeling like ‘I’m almost there. I would hate to lose this match after being up so much.’”

In the seventh and eighth game, Jankovic continued to face elimination, but twice more fought to play another game. Finally, Serena ended the Serbians’ hopes with her eighth match point with a growling overhead smash in the ninth game of the third set.

“It was like, ‘just hit a winner, but away from me,’ Jankovic said. “ She’s just got too much power for me to handle, especially on a good day where she’s playing well.”

Williams is now tied for the all-time record with Steffi Graf with five career women’s singles Sony Ericsson Open titles. With 29 career titles to her name, Serena feels like she is on the right track.

“I ‘m not there yet, and I’ve always said I feel like I’ve never reached my potential, and I really want to get there.” Williams said. “My goal is just to do everything that I need to do on the court and do it right. I feel like that titles will come.