CINCINNATI: Serena Williams continued to work her way up the list of WTA tennis legends, winning her 69th career title with a straight-set win over Simona Halep at the WTA Cincinnati tournament.

The world No.1 claimed her second straight Cincinnati trophy and moved past Aussie legend Evonne Goolagong into fifth place in the all-time WTA win list in the Open Era. Martina Navratilova heads the list with 167 singles crowns.

The 33-year-old American rallied past third seed Halep 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) on Sunday for her fifth title of 2015.

“I think that playing Simona really tested me, and I felt like I was up for the challenge and up for the test,” Williams said.

“I definitely feel there is room for improvement.”

Halep, who handed Williams one of the worst losses of her career at the 2014 WTA Finals in Singapore, will surpass Maria Sharapova as the second ranked player in the world when the new rankings come out Monday.

Roger Federer won his seventh Cincinnati Masters title on Sunday, dominating Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 in a performance, which sets him up nicely for the US Open.

The victory in 90 minutes means the Swiss will be seeded second behind Djokovic at Flushing Meadows.

Williams will be bidding for history at the US Open as she attempts to complete a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in singles. She came back from an early first-set deficit to take charge against Halep.

Williams is looking forward to the start of the US Open in eight days.

“I prefer to have this pressure than the pressure of not winning,” she said. “Not everyone can handle that pressure, but I’m OK with it. I would rather be in this position than another one.”

Williams went down an early break but reclaimed it and then some to win the opening set. The second was much more combative as Halep held her own from the baseline.

But Williams turned up the heat in the tiebreaker to finish the job in 99 minutes with 15 aces.

Williams now stands 21-4 in Cincinnati as she moves on to New York for training. The American has won all five of her 2015 finals — three Grand Slams, a Miami title and now Cincinnati.

Kyrgios fined, suspended

Nick Kyrgios was suspended for 28 days from any ATP-sanctioned event and fined an additional $25,000 on Monday for his comments this month about Stan Wawrinka at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

The penalties, however, are withheld provided he meets certain conditions over the next six months, ending Feb. 24, 2016. Kyrgios remains eligible for the US Open, which starts next week and is not an ATP tournament.

The governing body of men’s tennis completed its review of Kyrgios’ conduct and cited him for “aggravated behavior.” On Aug. 12, a courtside microphone picked up Kyrgios saying that fellow Australian player Thanasi Kokkinakis had slept with a player who reportedly is now Wawrinka’s girlfriend.

“This incident was egregious and reflected poorly on our sport,” said Gayle David Bradshaw, executive vice president of rules and competition. “Nick has expressed regret, and the best result would be that he learns a lesson from this incident and that he understands he is responsible to the tour and to fellow players for both his actions and his words.”

The suspension and fine will be dropped provided Kyrgios does not draw any fines for verbal or physical abuse at any ATP tournament, and does not accumulate fines totaling more than $5,000 for any other offenses at ATP sanctioned tournaments.

The ATP already fined Kyrgios $10,000 on Aug. 13. In addition, he was fined $2,500 for unsportsmanlike conduct regarding a comment to a ball person during the match.