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The Australian Open Heats Up
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by TFleming | January 31, 2009 at 11:10 am
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Serena Williams endured Australia's record breaking temperatures over the past week to win her 10th Grand Slam Title on Saturday. She ousted Dina Safina 6-0, 6-3 and earned her 4th Australian title and the number 1 ranking.
Williams was so dominant that Safina, a 22-year-old Russian playing in her second major final, didn’t feel worthy of being on the same court.
“It was first time for me to play not only for the Grand Slam, but also for No. 1 spot,” said Safina, the 2008 French Open runner-up. “I never been through this situation, and she was already.
“Serena was too good … I was just a ballboy on the court today,” added Safina, apologizing to the Rod Laver Arena crowd after the 59-minute match.
Safina had been hoping to emulate two feats her brother, Marat Safin, achieved. He won the 2005 Australian Open—the day after Serena won her second title here—and held the No. 1 ranking.
“She played exactly the way she had to play and she was much more aggressive and she just was taking time out of me,” Safina said.
“She didn’t give me a chance.”
Although Williams now has 10 titles she still has a lot of work to do if she wants to break any records. Currently Margaret Court Smith holds the record at 24 titles with Steffi Graf close behind at 22. She is however the record holder for money maker in women's sport with her career earnings reaching $23.5 million.
Nadal won 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 6-4 on Friday against Roger Federer to launch himself in to the finals on Sunday. This match was the longest in tournament history just short of 5hours and 15 minutes. If Nadal wins on Sunday he will tie Pete Sampras for Grand Slam singles titles at 14.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 12:21 on January 31st, 2009
Nice report. I watched the match and Safina was close to tears muliple times. It was a lopsided affair. She did fight on valiantly thought. Right to the end.
at 15:09 on January 31st, 2009
Im from Melbourne and went to the Tennis when it was over 43 C. These guys earned their money. I have no idea how they play Tennis in those conditions when I was hiding in the shade not moving much and was still dying in that heat.
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