TheCable

Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open finals Saturday, in straight sets to claim her 19th Grand Slam title.

The win makes it the sixth in Australia – 2003, ’05, ’07, ’09 ’10 and’15 – for Williams, currently ranked number one in the world.

She has defeated No. 2-ranked Sharapova in their last 16 meetings.

The 6-3, 7-6 victory in Melbourne also leaves Williams just three Grand Slam titles shy of German Steffi Graf’s record 22 titles.

Williams is now alone in second place, having passed Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert with Saturday’s win.

The 33-year-old’s form leading into the year’s first grand slam was not too impressive. She lost two of four singles matches at the Hopman Cup in Perth, while she was clearly plagued by a virus at Melbourne Park – only to deliver the goods when it really mattered.

“It feels really good to be sitting here as the champion,” Williams told a media conference.

“I definitely didn’t think I would be here in the beginning of the week or the beginning of the two weeks, but it feels pretty excellent.

“I was not feeling great. Every time I didn’t feel great I started to feel better, and then the next day I got worse. There was a lot of ups and downs.

“I’ve been through so much the past week. I really, really didn’t expect to win. I didn’t expect to be here this long. I was walking down the hall yesterday and I was thinking, Wow, I’m still in the tournament.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the final here or the semi-final. It’s been a long time coming. I was just really, really elated to have an opportunity to walk out on the final match.”

World number one, Novak Djokovic will meet number six Andy Murray in the men’s final on Sunday.