Sport
Serena Williams dominates Maria Sharapova to win the Australian Open
“Yes, I haven’t won against her many times, but if I am getting to the stage of competing against someone like Serena, I’m doing something well,” said Sharapova, who went into the tournament with the opportunity to seize Williams’ number one ranking.
An intensely focused Williams outgunned Sharapova, cannoning down 18 aces, including a 203 kmh (166 mph) thunderbolt and glaring at her opponent during key moments as the Russian struggled to stay in the match.
Sharapova made a disastrous start when she double faulted to go down a break in the opening game, succumbing to pressure as Williams aggressively stood inside the baseline and easily read her serve.
Williams pounced on any tentative returns from Sharapova who resorted to drop shots in a bid to avoid getting into a slugfest with the game’s most powerful hitter.
Rain interrupted play at 3-2, with Sharapova staying courtside as Williams took shelter and tended to her hacking cough before play resumed after 13 minutes with the roof closed.
“I had a really bad cough and I ended up throwing up,” she said. “I was able to clear my chest out because I couldn’t breath a little bit.”
Williams showed no sign of losing momentum, blasting an ace with her first shot back and then capitalising after Sharapova gave her three break points with another double fault.
While Sharapova scored a break against the run of play, Williams immediately broke back to take the set after 47 minutes.
With the final threatening to become a massacre, Sharapova’s fighting qualities finally emerged and she held serve twice early in the second set.
