Serena Williams beat sister Venus in straight sets to win her
seventh Australian Open and an Open-era record 23rd Grand
Slam singles title.
Serena, 35, won 6-4 6-4 to pass Steffi Graf in the all-time list of
major winners since the Grand Slams accepted professional
players in 1968.
The American regains the number one ranking from German
Angelique Kerber.
Australia's Margaret Court is the only player still ahead of Serena
in terms of Grand Slam singles titles on 24.
Serena Williams went into the match as a strong favourite, but the
tension was apparent as early as the third game when she
smashed a racquet in frustration, picking up a code violation.
She had broken serve in the first and third games only to hand
the advantage straight back each time, three double faults
inexplicably littering a desperate game for 2-2.
All-time Grand Slam singles titles leaders
24 (1960-1973) - Margaret
Court (Aus)
19 (1923-1938) - Helen Wills
Moody (US)
23 (1999-present) - Serena
Williams (US)
18 (1974-1986) - Chris Evert
(US)
22 (1987-1999) - Steffi Graf
(Ger)
18 (1978-1990) - Martina
Navratilova (US)
It was clear that the six-time champion was struggling to settle,
with 13 unforced errors in the opening five games, while elder
sister Venus kept her under pressure with some deep hitting.
The decisive move of the set came with a superb drop volley
followed by a thumping forehand winner from Serena to break for
4-3, and this time she managed to consolidate on serve.
In contrast to the opening stages, the following nine games went
with serve - Venus recovering superbly from 0-40 early in the
second set - but it was Serena who was creating the chances.
She finally capitalised on her sixth break point of the set with a
brilliant return winner to lead 4-3 and followed it up with her best
service game of the match for 5-3.
The crowd on Rod Laver Arena had been backing Venus from the
beginning as she tried to win a first major title for eight years,
and all the more so as defeat loomed and she appeared to
struggle physically.
There was a huge cheer when she held serve to force her sister
to serve out the match, but Serena recovered from 15-30 to earn
match point and fell back on the court in celebration as her sister
sent the ball floating wide.
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