Links - Serena cruises to victory in Australian Open final - North River Minor Hockey Association

Serena cruises to victory in Australian Open final LOGINREGISTERHELPYOU ARE NOT LOGGED IN NHLNBAMLBCFLNFLCurlingTennisGolfSoccerNASCARFormula OneIndyCar NASCAR Canadian Tire SeriesNationwideCamping WorldAuto RacingWorld JuniorsSpengler CupMenS WHCWomenS WHCHockey CanadaAHLBoxingCanada GamesCHLCISECHLFigure SkatingLacrosseMMANCAASkiingSummer SportsWinter SportsMoreOlympicsFantasyDaily LineShowsTSN TalentCommunityMainScheduleResultsRankingsMoneyWinnersATP ScheduleResultsRaceRankingsMoneyWinnersWTA Tennis on TSNeotText SizeMelbourne Australia (Sports Network) In one of the most lopsided finals in Australian Open history American Serena Williams overpowered Russian Dinara Safina 60 63 for her 10th major singles championshipThe secondseeded Williams who also won this Grand Slam event in 2003 05 and 07 will replace Serbias Jelena Jankovic as the No 1 ranked player in the world come Monday The four Australian Open titles are tied for the mostever in the open era as Williams joined Margaret Court Evonne GoolagongCawley Steffi Graf and Monica Seles on that list I idolized Steffi Graf growing up and Martina Navratilova was my role model so when I think of those names I cant even think of myself there said Williams But people are starting to think about me that way and thats just ubercool The Saturday victory for Williams which came in just 59 minutes occurred just a day after she and sister Venus took home the womens doubles title Williams the reigning US Open champion also won backtoback Grand Slams for the first time since the 2002 US Open and 2003 Australian Open when she completed the Serena Slam Before Saturday the last player to win backto back Slams was Justine Henin (2003 US Open and 2004 Australian Open) It was one of the most dominating matches as far as service games goes with Williams winning 20 of 21 possible points on her first serve The thirdseeded Safina was just 15of29 in the same situation Also Williams committed just seven unforced errors against 23 winners That compares to 21 unforced errors for Safina who also double faulted five times She played exactly the way she had to play she was much more aggressive said Safina She never even let me into the match She is a champion She proved that She puts pressure on you Its not that I doubted myself but she pushes you to go for too much because you know that you cannot give her an easy ball because she will go after it With the roof open at Rod Laver Arena following a massive heat wave that swept through Melbourne Williams proved dominant again in a final Down Under Two years ago she destroyed Russian Maria Sharapova 61 62 The fewest number of games won at an Aussie Open final is two last done in 1994 when Steffi Graf topped Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 60 62 After Williams held in the first game Safina doublefaulted the second game away and immediat...