The 2009 Australian Open final was over less than sixty minutes after it started.
Second seed Serena Williams raced past third seed Dinara Safina in straight sets to win her tenth career Grand Slam title and recapture the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour number one ranking.
Serena Williams started the match with dominating form and did not allow the Russian to win a game until the first game of the second set when Safina broke Williams’ serve. Her lead was short-lived; Williams broke back and closed out the match 6-0, 6-3. Safina only held serve twice during the 59-minute match.
“I was just a ballboy on the court today,” Safina joked after the match.
Williams played one of the cleanest matches of her career by posting only seven unforced errors, amazing given her high-percentage game. Serena’s serve carried her to victory as she won twenty out of twenty-one points on her first serve.
Williams’ victory on Saturday lifted her back to the top spot in women’s tennis. Both women headed into the final with an opportunity to leave Melbourne as number one, and Safina was bidding to join her brother Marat as the first brother-sister tandem to reach the No.1 ranking.
Although Serena Williams had previously won the Australian Open in 2003, 2005, and 2007, this was her first victory when the roof on Rod Laver Arena was open. The tournament switched to a night final for the women’s draw in 2009, giving the players much-needed relief from the stifling Australian heat that has plagued the tournament for most of the past fortnight.
Williams, the 2008 US Open champion, won back-to-back Slams for the first time since the 2002 US Open and 2003 Australian Open when she completed the “Serena Slam.”
She is only the fifth woman in the Open Era to win ten or more Grand Slam titles, joining an exclusive club that includes other all-time greats, namely Steffi Graf (22), Chris Evert (18), Martina Navratilova (18) and Margaret Smith Court (11).
Williams received a winner’s check of AUD$2 million and Dinara Safina was awarded $1 million.
Venus and Serena Williams also won the Australian Open women’s doubles title on Friday, beating Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama in the final.
Really exceptional form from Serena: smooth, solid strokes, backhand and forehand. Excellent serving and footwork; short rallies, constantly looking for a quick, decisive way to end the point. You’re right about the very low unforced errors, Aaress. Indeed, based on past performance, Serena’s game today was a bit of an anomaly. A beautiful, highly efficient, winning anomaly. Congratulations to the ten-time Grand Slam Champion, ( and she’s #1 again!) Serena Williams.
Dinara has to deal with the nerves. Easy to say but hard to do. Not the result I hoped for. Serena Williams is the most ingracious player ever to lift a racquet. If she had lost, doubtless she would have come out with the usual excuses.
Still, the seasosn is young and plenty of time for Venus to get ready for Wimby
Invariably, the anti-Serena contingent will attempt to diminish the remarkable achievements of this remarkable female tennis titan with a tired, pathetic cheap shot.
The “ingracious” (that should be “ungracious” for all you spelling/grammar geeks out there) canard is a favorite of this crowd. But, of course, you can scour all the news articles and press releases in recent memory and you will be very hard pressed to find a quote from any current player, tennis official, umpire, executive or knowledgeable fan that comes close to characterizing Serena Williams as “ingracious”. The unsubstantiated complaints and the absurd conspiracy theories about Serena all come from outside, not inside, the tennis world and should be treated accordingly. That is to say they should be summarily dismissed with extreme contempt.
Honestly, “the most ingracious player ever to lift a racquet”?! You really cannot be serious! That is to say, have you ever seen John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors in their prime playing days?!?
@JimM,
What’s Serena done today to be ‘ingracious’ ?
You can do with some honest assessment for a day!
Doooh!
@Wilson,
Thanks for putting it better. Someone once wrote an article that to be the best, you have to behave as tho, everyone else does not exist:- mean! but thats the root quality of champions….
Its ridiculous some of the shots thrown at Serena, when all she’s clearly been doing is never contemplating that there is someone any better than herself.
Safina did not even start this game – talk of getting wired in Serena’s world.
Like you said, cheap shots, I’d pass.
ingracious?
lol!
Are you a Palin?
Re: “You really cannot be serious! That is to say, have you ever seen John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors in their prime playing days?!?”
So true. Or Henin?
Or Ana Ivanovic who cheers every opponent’s mistake with that pathetically affected fist pump? Doesn’t seem to help, does it?
Although, Serena is a great tennis player, I agree that she is a little hard to like. Take Dinara and Serena’s speeches at the end of the match – who was more grateful, remembered to thank the tournament people, the fans, and the volunteers?
However, even more disturbing than Serena’s somewhat clueless speech after winning, was Mary Carillo’s garbled, excited statements about Serena winning and continuing to play to compete with men as a dominant player. She would not shut up. She could not express herself, but kept trying over and over, even breaking in when the other announcer said “Well Serena is certainly happy” to say “So am I!” Frankly, who cares? Mary had way too much airtime to make ridiculously confused statements.
I watched the whole match (not that it went long). It was a pure display of Serena’s dominance and sheer determination. She was amazing to watch. As an Aussie I look forward to the Open immensely at the beginning of each year and I am so happy to see Serena win it again (as has become a tradition every two years). She is a true champion and deserves her number 1 ranking. I can’t wait for the men’s final tonight, it should be a real contest!
Linda, Serena also thanked volunteers, the fans and Dinara. Her speech was gracious, but it was very Serena-like. She has loads of personality and self-belief which I guess annoy some people. I thought her speech was fine and I noticed her trying to cheer up Dinara at the end. She even tried to apologize for beating her so badly! It was an awkward moment. Serena says “I have to go for broke against you. That was all I could do.” Almost apologizing for routing her that way. It shows respect though that is for sure.
I agree with you about Mary Carillo. The only time I actually wanted Chris Fowler to continue talking.
Huh? Mary Carillo gushing over Serena? Other blogs I’ve read characterize Mary Carillo as a “Williams sisters hater”.
There are plenty of other “not gracious” athletes. Calling out Serena on this is NOT to say she is the only one – maybe she seems like the “most ungracious” this particular Open? or in a set of players? She’s got some work to do to if she’s going to make the all-time Champion Poor Loser list.
Some of the Serena defenders ought to recall some of the same criticism leveled at Henin or Sharapova when they were perceived to be unsportsmanlike. (Perhaps if you are quite ancient you will remember like observations about McEnroe and Connors).
It really isn’t all about Serena-hate.
Mary Carillo was drunk as ****. I like drunk people, in bars, but not on TV. How does she keep her job? I am jealous.
Serena was fine. There have been much worse re: speeches. She kicked everyone’s butt. And she said more than “she made me play my best tennis” (the only thing venus said during the longest womens final against Lindsay, and I still love Venus, but that was an ugly moment). She did. God bless.http://tennisisametaphorforlife.blogspot.com/
oops- longest women’s wimby final in history.
That said, I was the best man at my friend’s wedding, and I gave the WORST speech ever. Speeches are hard. Give love. And compassion.
OK, I’m going to get all like Mary Carillo, but not on TV.
IMO – I can easily see why, for many people, Serena Williams stands out as being ungracious. I’m not a fan of hers however 2 things I’ll say 1 – she wins a lot of major tournaments 2 – when Azarenka was feeling unwell, Williams’ expressed concern was clearly sincere.
Dang – I’ve been relegated to my comments being moderated. Whadidaido! lol
LOL, Pov! You’re fine. We were having some issues with the site over the past few days and everyone’s comments were set to be held into moderation.
It’s back to the old system now, so you should be able to comment away without any trouble.
Thanks Aaress.
For some reason the stats people are not on their game. Margaret Smith Court holds the record for most single slams wins by a man or woman at 24. I believe Ms Court has won 11 Aussie titles.
Conley,
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour officially takes into count the statistics from the Open Era. Margaret Court only won 11 of her major titles during this time period.