Venus Williams capped a triumphant return to the WTA Tour Saturday night when she defeated top seed Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1 in the final of the Cellular South Cup at the Racquet Club of Memphis. Williams clinched her 34th WTA Tour title in her first tournament since October last year.

Her father and coach, Richard, who had been highly critical of Williams' play earlier in the tournament, was delighted with the victory. Soon after match point father and daughter came together as Richard showed Venus a proud text message he had just sent to sister Serena.

Williams, who came into her first tournament since last October ranked No. 54, said that her immediate goal was to break into the Top 16 before Roland Garros to earn a favorable seeding at the year's second Grand Slam. Williams will take an immediate break of three weeks before playing her next tournament at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and then more outings in Charleston, the Fed Cup (in Delray Beach) and Warsaw.

Williams dropped just three points on her first serve (and nine service points in total) and did not face a break point. Despite her lack of match practice and scratchy form in the early rounds, Williams said that he expected good things in the final.

"I felt confident. I love a challenge. I was clear about what I needed to do and how to execute," Williams said. "It's about errors for me. Today I didn't make too many errors. When my opponents benefit from my largesse, it gets harder for me. A lot of the errors in my early matches came from a lack of footwork. Today I knew I had to do more and that paid off huge.

"It's very exciting to win the title after not being on the top of my game early in the week. I have nothing to prove... I'm still looking to get better."

Peer said: "It was a very, very good week except for the final. The rest of the rounds were good, but this is the first time I have lost in a final, so it's not the happiest thing. Venus is very experienced and she was focused from the first game today. Against players like her I can't afford to start slowly."