CNN — Serena Williams won her 19th Grand Slam title and continued her unbeaten run in six Australian Open finals by extending her decade-long domination of Maria Sharapova.
She struggled with a hacking cough, she was sick, and she celebrated too early, but she held her composure in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory Saturday.
On her third match point, she let her racket go before hearing a let call to what she thought was an ace.
I thought, ‘Wow, this is it, I did it,’ only to hear let. I was like, ‘OK Serena!’” she said. “I was very disappointed, because Maria was playing so well. I thought she’s going to try to hit a winner now. She goes for broke on match point.”
So she fell back on her biggest weapon, firing another ace — her 15th of the set and 18th of the match. This time, after checking it was official, she bounced around like a child and the celebration was real.