Australian Open - A New Era in Women's Tennis

By: Peri Witny
Submitted: 2009-02-02 14:28:24
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When Ana Ivanovic won the French Open to snap Henin's hold on the title after winning it for three consecutive times, tennis fans proclaimed the youthful Serbian player as the next player who shall dominate the sport, a picture of beauty and grace that has not been seen in the sport since Martina Hingis ruled the women's side. Ivanovic started to wilt under pressure.

Maria Sharapova got sidelined for the rest of the year due to her shoulder injury while Jelena Jankovic has to win a major before she can claim the top ranking convincingly. That leaves the Williams sisters to battle each other out to stake claim as no.1 female tennis player.

Serena lost to Venus in the Wimbledon final. But the sisters returned to the court together to win the doubles crown a few moments later. Serena then won the U.S. Open but not after she avenged her loss to her sister as she defeated her in return during the quarterfinals. It then started the tug-of-war between the sisters for the right to be called no.1.

The sisters have started their Grand Slam tennis live season in contrasting fashion but produced positive results.Venus didn't reach the fourth round but she teamed wit Serena to win the ladies doubles title as they defeated Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-3. Serena then returned to the Rod Laver Arena the next day and faced Dinara Safina and won convincingly 6-0, 6-3 to win the 2009 Women's Australian Open and reclaim the no. 1 ranking from previous owner Jelena Jankovic.

Serena's devastating win over Safina has ushered in the reemergence of the younger Williams as the most dominant female tennis player of her time. She reigned the women's circuit in 2002-2003 and proved to be someone who was extremely difficult to beat at that time.  She has now won back-to-back Grand Slam titles including the U.S. Open last year. It also insured her place in the history of women's tennis results.

Her singles win has made her win Grand Slam title no. 10 and overtake Monica Seles for the seventh position. The doubles win was their eight Grand Slam title as partners. She was the last player both male or female to have won all four Grand Slam crowns and with her win in this year's Australian Open, she now has the chance to win all four major titles in a single season. Not only will she be unbeatable in the singles but her win in the women's doubles together with Venus sets her up to be the player who shall rule women's tennis for a long, long time.

Safina's attitude after she lost the match is quite admirable. Truly, she cannot dispute the fact that Serena just overpowered her. Williams made sure that Safina won't be able to be in the match and she kept the aggressive pressure up. Safina was gracious enough to admit that she lost to the best player and even had to call herself a "ballgirl". And Safina was right, everything now is up to Serena.

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