Can Serena Williams win the ultimate Grand Slam in 2015, and can the 33-year-old undisputed world number one match Margaret Court’s record 24 Slam singles victories?
The answer has to be in the affirmative after her 6-3 7-6 win over Maria Sharapova last night under the closed roof at Melbourne Park to clinch her sixth Australian Open and 19th Slam.
That took Williams past legends Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert’s 18 Slams to draw level with Helen Wills Moody of the 1920s and 1930s on 19, with Steffi Graf’s 22, and Court’s 24 in her cross-hairs.
Only Court in 1970 and Graf in 1988, have completed the Grand Slam among the women – and Williams deserves to be on that list.
The facts are very evident – Serena Williams is an awesome tennis player. Her power, her precision and her placement puts her head and shoulders above the field.
Last night Sharapova played some brilliant tennis, but yet again succumbed to the Williams’ clout for her 16th successive time.
Sharapova hasn’t beaten her nemesis since 2004 and has only taken one set off her in that losing streak.
Yet at all times Sharapova has been competitive, after all she is number two in the world.
But there were two Williams’ service games last night that typified her greatness.
At 2-all in the second set, Sharapova led 0-30. But Williams unleashed three aces and smacked a winner, denying Sharapova another point in that game.
The same happened at 3-all, Sharapova leading 0-30. But two Williams’ aces, and two winners, netted the same result.
How frustrating that must be, especially as Sharapova forced Williams into many errors that were scored as unforced errors.
But last nights stats underlined Serena Williams’ destructive power.
Aces – Williams 18-5.
Fastest serve – Williams 202kph, Sharapova 177.
Winners – Williams 38-21.
And overall points won – Williams 76-64.
The only stats that favoured Sharapova were Williams’ 25 unforced errors to 15, and forcing Williams to run 999 metres to 967.
At the presentation, Sharapova congratulated Williams on her win, adding “it’s inspirational to play against the best”.
Williams reciprocated by congratulating Sharapova of – “Bringing out the best in me, she always does”.
Tonight it’s the men’s final – Serb Novak Djokovic against Scot Andy Murray – with Murray suffering from the same problem as Maria Sharapova in trying to beat the best.
Djokovic leads 15-8 head-to-head, having won all four of their meetings in 2014, with Murray managing to nab just one set.
It appears the story will be much the same tonight as Djokovic goes on to claim his fifth Australian Open.
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