Serena Williams (33) won her 19th Grand Slam title, continued her unbeaten run in six Australian Open finals and extended her decade-long domination of Maria Sharapova with a commanding 6-3, 7-6 (5) win on Saturday night by beating the world number two, 16 times in a row. Serena moves past Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert with a 19th major singles title in the Open era, on her third match point with an ace. She is now second only to Steffi Graf (22) on the list of major winners in the Open era.
Williams, coughing frequently and still affected by a recent cold, returned from a 13-minute rain interruption in the first set and fired an ace to start a run of six straight points. She was broken while serving for the set but broke Sharapova for a third time to clinch it. She hit 18 aces and 38 winners and won the match in one hour and 51 minutes.
“I have to congratulate Maria, she played a wonderful match and she really pushed me,” said Williams.