Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia ó Serena Williams routed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 Saturday to win the Australian Open for her 10th Grand Slam title and a return to the No. 1 ranking.
It was total domination for the second-seeded Williams, who moved fluidly on the court and looked at ease in winning back-to-back majors, including the U.S. Open title in September.
“I absolutely, clearly, love playing here,” the 27-year-old Williams said. “You guys root for me so much. I don’t get that everywhere. So thank you so much.”
Williams becomes only the seventh woman with double-digit Grand Slam singles titles. She leads all active players and broke a tie with two greats of the game ó 2009 Hall of Fame inductee Monica Seles and Maureen Connolly ó who each won nine majors.
Justine Henin was the last to win back-to-back major singles titles, at the 2003 U.S. Open and 2004 Australian Open.
Williams’ near-perfect performance was in sharp contrast to No. 3 Safina, who was tight from the start. Later apologizing to the crowd for her performance, Safina said Williams was just too good, leaving her feeling like a ballboy.
“It was first time for me to play not only for the Grand Slam, but also for No. 1 spot,” said Safina, the 2008 French Open runner-up. “I never been through this situation, and she was already.”
In the first game, Safina double-faulted three times, including on break point. Williams ran off 18 of the last 20 points in the first set to finish in 22 minutes.
It was Williams’ second overwhelming victory in a final at Melbourne Park, where she kept alive her record of winning in odd-numbered years since 2003 for four titles. Coming into the 2007 tournament unseeded after being plagued by injuries the year before, she beat top-seeded Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2.
Sharapova rebounded to win last year but was unable to defend her title while recuperating from a shoulder injury.
Williams became the fifth woman to win four or more Australian titles. By making the singles and doubles finals, she already had become the all-time leading money winner in women’s sports.
For winning the Australian singles title, she earned $1.3 million and has career earnings of more than $23.5 million.
After Melbourne’s hottest three-day heat wave on record, conditions were nearly perfect for the tournament’s first women’s final at night, but Rod Laver Arena was less than capacity, with large patches of empty seats scattered around the upper deck of the 15,000-seat stadium.
Today, top-ranked Rafael Nadal will face No. 2 Roger Federer in the men’s final. Federer will be trying to tie Pete Sampras’ record of 14 major titles, while Nadal is seeking his third Grand Slam out of the last four, missing only the U.S. Open last September that was won by the Swiss star.