Serena Williams of the USA holds her 2nd straight Australian Open championship trophy after defeating a determined Justine Henin of Belgium. In doing so, Williams, ranked No 1 in the world, also broke the even year curse at the Australian Open. She has not been able to advance past the Quarterfinals in even years while winning four straight in the odd years, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009.
The win gave Williams 12 overall Grand Slam championships, matching Billie Jean King’s total. It was also her 5th Australian Open championship, the most Australian Open titles by any woman in the Open Era, since 1968, surpassing the four held by Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Court holds 11 Australian Open titles overall, most coming before 1968 when the “open era” began.
Williams collapsed on the court in celebration, weary yet elated after her three sets victory 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 over Henin. Henin had most of the crowd support, but couldn’t quite match the power of Williams who won the last four games to clinch the title. Henin was playing in her first Grand Slam after coming out of retirement. The unranked and unseeded Henin beat four seeded players en route to the Australian Open final, including No. 5 and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in the second round.
“It was definitely a tough match mentally and physically,” Williams said. “We were both out there to prove something, and I think we did at the end of the day.”
