Williams sets sights on a second 'Serena Slam' after crushing Safina

Published on Sunday 1 February 2009 22:52

NEW Australian Open champion Serena Williams has her sights set on another "Serena Slam" following her demolition of Dinara Safina in Melbourne.

Williams thrashed the Russian 6-0, 6-3 in 59 minutes in Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night to win her fourth Australian Open title, tenth grand slam overall and reclaim the number one spot in the rankings.

The 27-year-old American is now halfway towards repeating her slam of 2002-03, when she last held all four grand slam titles, having won the US Open in New York last September.

"The Serena Slam is something I'd like to do again," Williams said. "It would be great to win more than one, more than two grand slams this year, more than three. That would be awesome."

Next on the list will be the French Open, which starts on 25 May. At Roland Garros last year she bowed out in the third round to Katarina Srebotnik.

"Obviously my sights are on doing well in Paris," she added. "I didn't do well at all last year. So when I get there I won't have that much to lose and I'll just be really relaxed."

Williams' crushing win on Saturday night saw her join an elite group of Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Helen Wills Moody, Steffi Graf and Margaret Court who have all won ten or more grand slams.

But having reached double figures and become the highest female prize money earner in sport, Williams reckons she has plenty left in her.

"I definitely feel like I have so many years to play. Obviously I think I'm playing pretty well, so... I think that I can definitely do it," she said.

Williams took charge of the one-sided final from the first ball as Safina wilted under the pressure of trying to win her maiden grand slam and take the No 1 spot.

The American second seed, who also won the women's doubles at Melbourne Park with sister Venus, rated her performance as almost on a par with her crushing 6-1, 6-2 win against another Russian – Maria Sharapova – in 2007.

"I think '07 and '09 are really close. I don't know which one was really better. I was really playing well in '07, the final," she said. "I definitely think it was one of my most dominant performances, especially considering it was a final."

Safina admitted nerves had got the better of her once she stepped onto court. It showed immediately as she double faulted three times in her opening service game to hand Williams the advantage and from there it was all downhill for the Russian third seed.

She managed to hold serve just twice in the match, breaking the Williams serve only once, but Safina, who lost to Ana Ivanovic in the final at Roland Garros last year, was confident she would bounce back quickly.

"If I would lose the first round, of course I would sit here and I would start to think," she said. "But I lost in the final. I made it all the way. There is much more positive than negative. I just lost the match, and now it's back to training. I don't see any reason to panic."

Meanwhile, top British junior Laura Robson hopes her efforts in Melbourne will be enough to get a wildcard entry into the main draw at Wimbledon this year.

The 15-year-old lost 6-3, 6-1 to Ksenia Pervak in the Australian Open junior girls' singles final in Rod Laver Arena on Saturday, falling just short of repeating her junior grand slam efforts at SW19 last year.

"It's up to them. I've got no say in it, really," she said. "I've got the wildcard for qualifying but it's their decision whether they want to give me a main draw one. I would like one."

The final was just a match too far for Robson, who has battled the intense heat in Melbourne, which has been in the grip of its biggest heat wave in a century.

Against her more experienced opponent – Pervak is ranked 154 on the WTA tour – she struggled, being broken six times in a match that lasted 74 minutes.

Robson went 3-0 down in the first set but fought back to trail 4-3. She then failed to convert three break point chances, which would have got her level, and then had her serve broken again when she double faulted twice on the way to handing the Russian third seed the set.

Her hopes of repeating her Wimbledon success began to rapidly fade as more breaks of serve left her 4-0 down, and although she claimed one break back it was never going to be enough to keep the Russian at bay.

But Robson said there were positives to take away from her time in Melbourne. "Well, I've learned about dealing with the extreme conditions, definitely, and also, letting go a bit more if I don't do so well at the start of the second set," she said.

There has also been the highlight of playing on Rod Laver Arena. "There wasn't as many people in there as Court 1 (at Wimbledon], but it was still really nice – and I finally got my (players'] towels," Robson said.

But one of the perks of playing on the show court, using Hawk Eye, passed her by. "The only thing I was actually a bit upset about (on Saturday] is I didn't get to challenge anything," she said.

"That was really annoying. She challenged twice, and then I didn't get any."

&#149 Sania Mirza became the first Indian woman to win a senior grand slam title when she teamed up with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi to win the Australian Open mixed doubles.

The two Indian wildcards beat Nathalie Dechy of France and Israel's Andy Ram 6-3, 6-1. The win provided consolation for Bhupathi after he and partner Mark Knowles lost to Americans Bob and Mike Bryan in the men's doubles final on Saturday. The twins claimed their seventh grand slam title with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 win.