Serena Williams pushed sentiments aside in an emotion-charged 6-4, 6-4 defeat of sister Venus to win the Australian Open yesterday and a record 23rd Grand Slam title in the professional era.
Tortured by nerves in a tense family affair, Serena had to produce some of her best tennis to overcome Venus, who won the crowd at Rod Laver Arena by scrapping hard to the end.
The American’s seventh title at Melbourne Park was won with an aggressive charge to the net and a desperate defensive backhand from Venus that floated into the tramlines.
Photo: EPA
Serena slumped to the ground, with hands in the air and eyes wide with joyous disbelief, before congratulating her sister for inspiring her run in Melbourne.
“She’s an amazing person. There’s no way I would be at 23 without her,” the second seed said, cradling the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at the trophy ceremony.
“There’s no way I would have anything without her,” she said.
Photo: Reuters
“She’s the only reason the Williams sisters exist, so thank you for inspiring me to be the best that I can be,” Serena said.
The win moved her past Steffi Graf on the list of all-time Grand Slam winners and she now sits just one shy of Margaret Court’s long-standing record of 24.
The victory also wrested back the world No. 1 ranking from Angelique Kerber, who swiped it away during her winning run to the US Open championship.
Photo: EPA
Kerber, like a number before her, might yet be remembered as another caretaker for the ranking before its return to its rightful owner.
Venus was the oldest finalist in Melbourne in the professional era and won huge admiration for her unlikely run to the final.
“Serena Williams, that’s my little sister, guys,” she said.
“Congratulations Serena on No. 23, I’ve been right there with you, some of them I’ve lost with you, she said.”
“Your win has always been my win, you know that,” she said. “I’m enormously proud of you, you mean the world to me.”
At 35, an age at which most former champions have enjoyed life after tennis for several years, Serena’s powers appear undiminished and she will now train her sights on Court’s record.
Rightly or wrongly, many will feel Serena’s top ranking in history is already assured, with Court’s haul split between the amateur and professional eras and the American’s silverware amassed despite numerous physical setbacks.
In the ultimate throwback tournament, Serena met her sister on the same Rod Laver Arena court where 14 years before she had edged her in three sets to claim her first Melbourne Park crown.
Eight years had passed since their previous Grand Slam decider at Wimbledon in 2009 and their combined ages in Melbourne added up to the oldest major final ever contested.
They walked down the corridor silently prior to the match, with Serena tuned into headphones and Venus focusing only ahead.
It was a tense start and neither player was able to hold serve until Venus took the fifth game.
Serena was the worst afflicted by the nerves and she smashed her racket in a rage in just the third game after she slipped behind the baseline when chasing down a ball.
She double-faulted three times to be broken a second time, causing a gasp from the crowd.
Galvanized by her serve, Serena soon settled and the blistering groundstrokes from the baseline began to find their mark as she surged to a 5-3 lead before sealing the set by thumping a pair of aces.
With Serena renowned as one of the best front-runners in the game, Venus showed her readiness to scrap, saving three break points to hold in the third game.
However, she was never on safe ground, with Serena feasting on her second serve.
Serena pounced in the seventh game, firing a searing backhand return to break and served out to love to come within a game of the title.
Having dragged Serena to 15-30 at 5-4 on her serve, Venus dropped her racket in despair as she hammered a forehand into the net to give up match point.
Serena needed no further reason and after a furious exchange of shots, she charged in to the net swinging to claim yet another major title.
In the boys’ junior doubles final on Friday, Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou and Zhao Lingxi of China defeated Finn Reynolds of New Zealand and Duarte Vale of Portugal, 6-7 (8/10), 6-4, 10-5 in 1 hour, 28 minutes, winning 83 of the 157 points played.
“We’re really excited to win the Australian Open doubles on the first try,” Xu told the Chinese-language Apple Daily on Friday.
Xu — who was eliminated from the boys’ singles tournament in the third round — credited his coach with preparing the pair well for the final.
“We did not expect to win, but coach Zhang Hsiao-yung said just focus and apply what you’ve learned to every rally,” he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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