Saturday, January 30, 2010

Serena's dozen: Williams wins Aussie for 12th Slam title


The 2010 Australian Open was won last September the moment a lineswoman called a foot fault on Serena Williams in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

The resulting tirade and national furor over it weighed heavily on the 11-time Grand Slam champ, though she'd never admit to it. She proved as much with her play in Melbourne over the past two weeks. Other than one set against Victoria Azarenka and 19 points against Justine Henin, Serena Williams was in another stratosphere during the year's first Grand Slam.

She proved that, without a doubt, she's the best player in the world ... when she wants to be. Make no mistake about it: When Serena Williams wants to win - and I mean wants it - the only person who can stop her is Serena herself.

That almost happened Saturday. During the latter stages of the second set and beginning portions of the third, Williams watched her opponent, Justine Henin, win 18 of 19 points. What had been two chances to go up a break at 4-2 in the second quickly turned into a Henin rout and the first third set in a women's Grand Slam final since Wimbledon 2006.

It was anticlimactic. After trading breaks early in the set, Serena stormed to a 3-2 lead en route to a 6-2 final-set victory.

Henin had changed up her strategy a bit for the match - she was more offensive than usual, trying to force Serena into mistakes - and it worked for that short stretch in the second set. In the end, though, Serena's serve and two-handed backhand were too much for the Belgian in her Grand Slam comeback.

Serena will always have the stain from Flushing Meadow on her career. Saturday in Melbourne, however, she took the first steps to making it fade. I think that was the point.

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