Serena Williams cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 win against sister Venus Williams in Melbourne on Saturday to win the 2017 Australian Open. Williams won the trophy for the seventh time in her chequered career. It was also the American’s 23rd Grand Slam title, a record in the Open era. She beat veteran Steffi Graf’s tally of 22.

Serena Williams had a slow start in the final, failing with her first serve on several occasions and handing cheap points. However, her sister Venus did not capitalise on it and the 35-year-old bounced back with a series of ferocious aces [10 overall] and broke Venus’ serve in the seventh game of the set.

After wrapping the first set, 6-4, Serena Williams took an early lead in the second. Once again, Venus Williams was culpable of making far too many unforced errors [25 overall] when she had to nick points in the rallies to get back in the contest. After breaking in the seventh game, Serena Williams didn’t look back and raced to the title. She did not drop a single set all through the tournament.