By Nick Georgandis
Look out, rest of the WTA. Here comes Serena Williams again.
In the first official rankings of the 2013 season, WIlliams used her title at Brisbane on Saturday to close within 295 points of No. 2 Maria Sharapova and within 845 points of No. 1 Victoria Azarenka with the first major of the year, the Australian Open, due to start in a week.
Williams defeated Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final. The 22-year-old Russian climbed from 36th to 24th with her deep run. She has been ranked as high as No. 13 in the world, reaching that rank in 2011.
The surprise of the Brisbane field was Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, the 23-year-old who entered the tournament ranked 116th overall, then reached the semifinals. Tsurenko surged to 83rd.