MELBOURNE — It has been two weeks of turning back the clock for Serena Williams, and under a closed roof during the Australian Open women's final Saturday, she completed her astoundingly quick trip back to dominance against the top-seeded Maria Sharapova.
Under the lights, she was the relentless Williams of yore: crushing returns and first serves, casting ominous glances across the net and showing not the slightest hint of vulnerability as she raced to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
The rout, which required just one hour and three minutes, capped one of the most remarkable comebacks in tennis history, and it came against the young, confident woman who will regain the No. 1 ranking on Monday.
But there could be no doubt about who was No. 1 Saturday, as Williams applied enormous pressure from the start and methodically extracted all the suspense to win her eighth Grand Slam singles title and third Australian Open title.
She also won here in 2003 and 2005, and that victory in 2005 was her last in any tournament until this year's unexpected run through a brutal draw in Melbourne. Although Williams arrived here unseeded and ranked 81st, she eliminated six seeded players in her seven matches.
Continue reading the main storyBut Williams, the first unseeded woman to win here since the Australian Chris O'Neil in 1978, saved the most prestigious victim for last. When it was over, Williams was jumping up and down with delight, reaching up into the stands to slap hands with her mother and coach, Oracene Price, and eventually dancing in front of her chair. Meanwhile, Sharapova was sitting in hers with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"You can never underestimate her as an opponent, and I don't think many of you expected her to be in the final, but I definitely did," Sharapova said to the crowd in Rod Laver Arena. "I know what she's capable of. She showed it today. She's an amazing champion, and she showed it here many times, and of course I look forward to playing her many more times, and winning a few, I hope."
Williams soon began to cry herself when she concluded her rambling, merry victory speech on a serious note as she spoke of her slain half sister, Yetunde Price, who was murdered in September 2003 in Compton, Calif. "Most of all I would like to dedicate this victory to my sister who is not here," Williams told the crowd. "Her name is Yetunde, and I just love her so much."
It was a remarkably forceful and focused afternoon for Williams against Sharapova, the 19-year-old who has supplanted her as the sport's dominant personality and commercial enterprise.
Williams finished with 28 winners and 11 unforced errors, a huge success rate for someone who takes such risks with her aggressive game. She broke Sharapova's shaky serve four times and never lost her own, serving seven aces and putting 67 percent of her first serves into play.
"On the scoreboard, it definitely looked easy, but I was just fighting for every point," Williams said in an interview with Australian television.
As the vagaries of Melbourne's weather would have it, Williams has won all three of her titles here indoors. In 2003, the roof was closed because of extreme heat when she beat her sister Venus in three sets to conclude her self- styled "Serena Slam" by winning her fourth consecutive Grand Slam singles title. It was closed because of rain in 2005 when she beat Lindsay Davenport after another surprising run through the draw when she, by her own admission, was not in top shape. This year, there were scattered showers in the hour before the match was scheduled to begin, which caused organizers to close the roof again, putting Williams back in a familiar place and frame of mind.
"When I saw the roof was closed, I said, 'I'm going to win for sure,"' Williams said with a laugh.
Sharapova became a star by surprising Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final, handling her power on the grass of the All England Club with baseline power of her own. But Williams had won their most recent match, saving three match points in the 2005 Australian Open semifinals, on her way to the title.
Since then, Williams has struggled with knee problems and personal problems, fighting through depression and distractions and slipping out of the top 100 at one stage last year. All the while, Sharapova was growing into her game and producing consistent excellence in the Grand Slam events, hitting a peak by winning her second major title at last year's U.S. Open, where Williams was knocked out in the fourth round by Amelie Mauresmo.
There were few hints in recent months that Williams was ready for a breakthrough. She did not play another tournament after the U.S. Open last season, and when she did return to the circuit this month to play a warm-up event in Tasmania, she was beaten in the quarterfinals by a player of limited means: Sybille Bammer of Austria.
Price said the defeat in Tasmania left her daughter in a particularly foul mood. Clearly, Williams still cared, and the matches played there, however uneven, proved useful to her in Melbourne, as she started from a higher platform and made the leap into top form.
"I think I get the greatest satisfaction just of holding up the Grand Slam trophy and proving everyone wrong; I just love that," Williams said. "I just had so much fun out there today. I just made some great shots. It was just fun."
This title run did not come without suspense. Williams was down a set and 3-5 in the third round against the fifth- seeded Nadia Petrova before finding her range and roaring back to win. She was also two points from defeat against Shahar Peer of Israel in the quarterfinals, but Williams has played the big points bravely, sometimes ferociously.
Her power and her past still intimidate, even against Sharapova, another fierce competitor who, like Williams, was raised to be a champion, but did not have an older sister along to share the ride and the sacrifices.
But Williams came here without Venus, who withdrew from this tournament, citing continuing problems with an injury to her left wrist. Now, at least one of the Williams sisters is back at the forefront of the sport.
Serena will rise to No. 14 in the rankings on Monday, and she intends to play a relatively full schedule at least through Wimbledon after playing only four tournaments last year.
"I've been working really hard the last year," Williams said, "and I haven't felt my results have been showing, and finally it all came together at the Australian Open."
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