It might not have been painless, but it sure was quick. Serena Williams wasted no time in reducing Dinara Safina to tears. In just 58 minutes, the American captured her fourth Australian Open women’s singles championship by dismantling her Russian opponent, 6-0, 6-3, before a packed house at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. The match [...]

Country mates and experienced mixed doubles performers Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi of India stormed past the Czech entry of Iveta Benesova and Lukas Diouhy 6-4, 6-1 in a semi-final match at Melbourne. Mirza and Bhupathi will play France’s Nathalie Dechy and Israel’s Andy Ram who disposed of Spaniards Anabel Medina Garriques and Tommy Robredo [...]

The talented and tenacious Williams sisters showed why they were so highly regarded by the bookmakers in the 2009 Australian Open. When the hard-hitting sisters get it right, they are the team to beat. In the year’s first Grand Slam, the sisters got it right and pounded Japan’s Ai Sugiyama and Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, [...]

The greatest tennis matches, the mano-a-mano duels that echo through the pages of time, manage to connect the sport’s fans with a proud and storied past. Friday night in Melbourne, Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco created a consummate classic that will age gracefully in the longer run of history. Less than seven months after his [...]

This time, Serena Williams did not blink. Having been fortunate to escape her quarterfinal match against Russian Svetiana Kuznetsova and having lost to semifinal opponent Elena Dementieva the last three times they played, Serena Williams arrived at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne with icy resolve. Displaying a power game, Serena took Elena’s best shots [...]