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January, 29th 2007

In the words of ESPN2 tennis commentator Dick Enberg, “Maria Sharapova has never seen such a spanking.”

It was sweet vindication for Serena Williams, who had been hearing all tournament long that she was too unfit to offer any legitimate competition in the Australian Open – the first Grand Slam event of the 2007 WTA tour.

Adding to the low expectations was her quarterfinals loss in a fourth-tier tournament at Hobart, Australia earlier this month to 26-year-old Austrian Sybille Bammer, who has never won a WTA Tour title.

Dressed in her neon green and big hoop earrings, Serena disposed of five opponents in the Australian Open en route to Saturday’s 6-1, 6-2 massacre of the world’s No. 1-ranked player Maria Sharapova.

Williams walked into the Rod Laver Arena with the same no-nonsense look and swagger that Mike Tyson used to carry en route to the ring. From the first point to the last, Serena was all business – staring down her opponent, slamming home winners with authority and serving up a number of blistering aces.

An emotional Serena Williams celebrates immediately after her win over Sharapova

Sharapova, who struggled with her serve throughout the match, had no answer for the younger Williams sister. Although the Russian was the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Serena – ranked 89th going into the Open – had a harder time beating her opponents in the earlier rounds. She was two points from exiting the tournament in her third round match against No. 5 Nadia Petrova, and had similar difficulty in her thrilling quarterfinal win over Israel’s Shahar Peer.

After the winning point in Saturday’s mauling, Serena’s game face melted into that patented million-dollar smile as she stretched out on the ground, jumped up and down, then ran to the stands to high-five her mother, Oracene.

During her post-game remarks, she became emotional when dedicating the victory to her sister, Yetunde Price, who was murdered in a drive-by shooting in California in Sept. 2003.

"Most of all I would like to dedicate this win to my sister, who's not here. Her name is Yetunde. I just love her so much," she said, her voice cracking. "I'll try not to get teary-eyed, but I said if I win this it's going to be for her. So thanks, Tunde."

Williams later said she wrote Yetunde’s name on a piece of paper and carried it with her onto the court for motivation.

"Usually I write, 'Look at the ball, move forward, do this, do that.' Today I just had one word. My note was just ‘Yetunde,’” she said. “Every changeover I looked at it and I just thought about how happy she would have been ... about what an amazing sister she was to me. I just said, 'Serena, this has to be more than enough to motivate me.' And I think it was."

The “violent beatdown” of Sharapova, as described by ESPN anchor Chris Fowler, catapults Serena’s WTA ranking to No. 14. Her championship Saturday was her first in two years, and only her second in a Grand Slam after completing her "Serena Slam" in Australia in 2003, when she won a fourth consecutive major.

Williams is only the second unseeded player to win the Australian title in the Open era, and it was the most dominating win in a completed championship match at Melbourne Park since Steffi Graf beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-0, 6-2 in 1994

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