Serena Williams wins her sixth Australian Open singles crown, beating Maria Sharapova for her 19th Grand Slam title with a 6-3 7-6(5) victory on this Saturday night in Melbourne.
The 33-year-old is now the oldest Australian Open champion of the Open era, maintaining her unblemished record in title matches at Melbourne Park in a final that lasted one hour, 50 minutes.
Only Steffi Graf, with 22 titles, has won more majors since 1968, while the victory saw Williams surpass Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the list of women’s major singles title-winners.
Williams overcame a coughing fit as the roof was closed for rain midway through the first set, returning to win four of the next five games as she outhit and outran the world No.2.
Sharapova dug deep to stay in touch with the American throughout the second set despite her struggles on serve, fending off a championship point at 4-5 and a second in the tiebreak, but Williams finished the match in style, firing an 18th ace to seal the title.
The victory is the 16th in succession for Williams over Sharapova, and is her first Australian Open title since 2010.
