Serena reigns for the sixth time in Australia

American Serena Williams hugged and kissed for the sixth time the Daphne Akhurst Cup that the Australian Open champion proudly displays every year.

Melbourne.- Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-6 (5) to win her sixth Australian Open title. Overall, she achieved her 19th Grand Slam title, taking distance from Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (18), and remaining just three points behind Steffi Graf (22), among the most successful women in the Open Era.

Serena began the match looking to impose her power from the first ball, putting pressure on the return and taking a quick break of advantage for 2-0.

Pressed and cold, Serena ignored any concerns: ace, winner and 4-2. In the following game she would break Sharapova to love, who was once again inconsistent in the (re)start.

The American’s only lapse in the match came when she was serving for the set at 5-2. In her worst game of the match, the No. 1 gave away her only break of the night with a double fault and added a little more suspense to the first set. Not much suspense, really. Because four points later she broke the Russian’s serve again at love and made up for the difference.

So far, it was all Serena’s doing. 11 winners to Sharapova’s three, an even number of unforced errors, but a clear difference on serve, with the No. 1 earning free points in tricky situations and the Russian relying heavily on her first shot.

In the second set, Sharapova took a much more aggressive approach, even though she had to win points two or three times against a Serena who returned everything from the base with her arm strength. In addition, the Russian began to find answers with the open serve and from there she began to diversify her search.

With Serena serving, a close match: open serve, ace, racket to the floor and a smile… halfway. The ball hit the net, the point was repeated. No problem for the number 1: same powerful serve, same place, ace and, now, all the glory was in her hands.

With her 19th title, the American is now 19-4 in Grand Slam finals, taking her career total to 65. In addition, she will extend her lead over the Russian in the WTA rankings to around 1,500 points.

(fuente:comexmasters.com)