lxxxii
2.7.08
published on 02/01/07
Sports Brief | Serena Williams serves up surprises at Australian Open
Entering the tournament unseeded and from a 2006 season that was riddled with injury, few expected Serena Williams to come out on top at the 2007 Australian Open. Yet perhaps this lack of expectation was just the necessary motivation to jumpstart Williams’ 2007 career and lead her to win the year’s first Grand Slam tournament against first-seed Maria Sharapova.
Held from Jan. 15-Jan. 28 in the scorching heat of Melbourne, Australia, the tournament kicked off the 2007 season for professional tennis as the first of four Grand Slams (the other three being the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open). Williams entered this year’s tournament ranked 81st in the world, an unfamiliar place for the former tennis superstar. What she lacked in ranking she made up for in experience, having won the tournament in 2003 and 2005, as well as seven previous majors. At 25 years old and not in the best physical shape, Williams was certainly considered the “underdog” of the tournament.
En route to the title, Williams defeated various ranked players, including 10th-seed Nicole Vaidisova from the Czech Republic in the semifinals and 16th-seed Shahar Peer from Israel in the quarterfinals. After emerging victorious from the semifinal round, Williams entered the finals and destroyed Sharapova, winning the match 6-1, 6-2, which was an unlikely score for these two heavy hitters. With this win Williams moves up 67 spots and is now 14th in the world, an excellent position for the start of a superstar’s comeback.
—Elizabeth Pacheco, Sports Editor
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