MELBOURNE: Serena Williams gave a gallant Maria Sharapova another serving of Grand Slam heartbreak to win the Australian Open on Saturday and bolster her claims to be the all-time greatest player with her 19th major title.

Though sickly, wheezing and battling coughing fits, Serena’s serve was in the rudest of health and her athleticism astonishing as she closed out a nerve-shredding clash 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

After celebrating prematurely on her third match point, letting her racket go before hearing a let call to what she thought was an ace, Serena had to quickly re-gather her composure.

“I thought, ‘Wow this is it, I did it, only to hear let. I was like, ‘OK Serena!’” she said. “I was very disappointed, because Maria was playing so well. I thought she’s going to try to hit a winner now. She’s goes for broke on match point.”

Top-ranked Serena took a deep breath and fired another ace — her 15th of the set and 18th of the match — and this time the celebration was real.

She jumped around like a little child, bouncing up and down, before shaking hands with Sharapova at the net.

“I’m so honoured to be here tonight and to hold this 19th trophy [at] my favourite stadium,” Serena said.

In sealing her sixth title at Melbourne Park, Serena surpassed Martina Navratilova, the woman who passed her the trophy, and Chris Evert in Grand Slam title wins, while drawing level with fellow American Helen Wills Moody, third in the all-time list.

At 33, the oldest Australian Open winner in the professional era, she left few in doubt that the pursuit of Steffi Graf’s 22 titles and Margaret Court’s 24 will continue.

“Gosh, where do I start? I have to thank God for this,” Serena gushed at the trophy ceremony. “I was down and out, and he helped me today, and I just said prayers and it just — not to win but to be strong and to be healthy and in the end I was able to come through.

“I also have to congratulate Maria, who played a wonderful, wonderful match tonight. She really, really pushed me tonight, and she played so well. Gave us a great final for not only for you guys but for women’s tennis.”

Serena has been battling a cold all tournament and was coughing during the match.

The first Australian final in a decade to feature the tournament’s top two seeds was a one-sided affair in the opening set, although Sharapova rallied to make a contest of it in the second, saving two championship points before falling to a third.

The victory extends Serena’s decade-long winning streak over the Russian to 16 matches, with the second seed hailing her arch-rival’s “incredible achievement” but insisting she was closing the gap.

“Yes, I haven’t won against her many times, but if I’m getting to the stage of competing against someone like Serena, I’m doing something well,” said Sharapova, who went into the tournament with the opportunity to seize Serena’s number one ranking.

Sharapova made a disastrous start when she double faulted to go down a break in the opening game, succumbing to pressure as Serena aggressively stood inside the baseline and easily read her serve.

The American pounced on any tentative returns from Sharapova who resorted to drop shots in a bid to avoid getting into a slugfest with the game’s most powerful hitter.

Rain interrupted play at 3-2, with Sharapova staying courtside as Serena took shelter and tended to her hacking cough before play resumed after 13 minutes with the roof closed.

Serena showed no sign of losing momentum, blasting an ace with her first shot back and then capitalising after Sharapova gave her three break points with another double fault.

While Sharapova scored a break against the run of play, Serena immediately broke back to take the set after 47 minutes.

With the final threatening to become a massacre, Sharapova’s fighting qualities finally emerged and she held serve twice early in the second set.

The Russian started taking chances but Serena got herself out of trouble with booming aces.

She held off a championship point at 5-4 with a desperate forehand down the line, going on to force a tie-break.

The 27-year-old fended off another championship point at 6-5 in the tie-break, then Serena thought she had the win with an ace, giving a wry grin when the umpire called let.

She slotted home another ace, legitimate this time, to seal the tournament, and jumped for joy.

Published in Dawn February 1st, 2015

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