SERENA WINS RECORD 23RD SLAM TITLE
Serena Williams pushed sentiments aside in an emotion-charged 6-4, 6-4 defeat of sister Venus to win the Australian Open on Saturday and a record 23rd Grand Slam title in the professional era. The win moved her past Steffi Graf on the list of all-time Slam winners and she now sits just one shy of Margaret Court’s long-standing record of 24
NEW DELHI/MELBOURNE: Serena Williams made it to history books as she became the first female tennis player to win 23 Glam Slam titles by defeating elder sister Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Australian Open.
Serena overtook Steffi Graff ’s Open era record of 22 major titles as she clinched the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
Despite shaky moments and less quality, Serena emerged victorious thanks to the right moments she produced and major mistakes by Venus. It was a baseline battle between the two sisters where Serena just managed to make lesser mistakes.
After producing magic throughout the tournament by defeating opponents half her age, Venus’ summit clash display was a letdown due to the number of unforced errors she made. The biggest setback for Venus was her cross-court shots. With all the power she was putting into the shots, they lacked accuracy; they would either go wide or hit the net.
The first set was an absolute roller coaster as the sisters exchanged breaks through the course of the game. Despite Venus breaking Serena early on, she let the latter come back in the game by losing her own service game immediately. After settling at 3-3, Serena held all her serves and managed to break Venus once more in the tenth game to eventually take the set 6-4.
Serena wasn’t at her best from the beginning of the game but it was her later found power and Venus’ crucial misses that got Serena the lead.
In the second set, Serena had an early chance to break her sister when she led 40-0 in Venus’ service game. But the big sister displayed sheer brilliance to deny Serena three break points as she won five straight points to close the deficit and win the game.
Serena played in her own skin specifically in the seventh game when she broke Venus. The champion’s backhand prowess was at the top in the game and she hit a double-handed backhand cross the court to take the game from Venus’ hand.
From there on, Serena didn’t let Venus get to her and with a perfect ace managed to wrap up the set 6-4 yet again.