Serena Williams of the United States defeated Russia's Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open finals Saturday, in straight sets to claim her 19th Grand Slam title.
The victory makes it the sixth in Australia for Williams, currently ranked number one in the world. She has defeated No. 2-ranked Sharapova in their last 16 meetings.
The 6-3, 7-6 victory in Melbourne also leaves Williams just three Grand Slam titles shy of German Steffi Graf's record 22 titles in the Open era.
Williams is now alone in second place, having passed Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert with Saturday's win. Both Navratilova and Evert witnessed Saturday's final.
The men's final Sunday features world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia against number six Andy Murray of Scotland.
