Williams rallies to defeat top seed Lindsay Davenport in the final for her seventh major title and first in 18 months.
By Associated Press
Published January 29, 2005
MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams overcame a back injury and rallied to defeat top-ranked Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 to win the Australian Open women's title Saturday.
Williams stretched her winning streak at Melbourne Park to 14 matches and captured her seventh Grand Slam singles title, ending an 18-month drought. She also won here in 2003, but couldn't defend the title last year because of an injured knee.
The seventh-seeded Williams, who fended off three match points in her semifinal win over Maria Sharapova on Thursday, made a dramatic comeback after needing a medical timeout in the first set for what a trainer initially described as a rib injury.
"Lindsay had me on the run. My back went out - I'm not as young as I used to be," Williams said. "Eventually I was able to come back."
It was Williams' first Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2003. She spent months off the circuit because of injuries and her best result at a major in 2004 was a run to the final at Wimbledon, where she lost to Sharapova.
Davenport, who won the last of her three Grand Slam titles here in 2000, won only eight points in the third set.
After Davenport's backhand landed long on match point, Williams dropped to a knee and raised both arms in the air. She held up an index finger before walking over to her entourage in the crowd, slapping hands with her mother, Oracene.
Davenport, who also lost in the doubles final, said Williams was too strong in the end.
"She's had a tough couple of years, but she's come back like the champion she is," Davenport said.
Davenport took a 4-0 lead in 11 minutes in the first set, breaking Williams' serve in the first and third games. Williams appeared to favor her right side each time she hit the ball and, after holding serve for the first time in the fifth game, called for the trainer.
The trainer treated her back at the side of the court, and then Williams took an eight-minute break for more treatment.
Williams had a break point in the next game but Davenport held, and closed out the set in the following game with a service winner. Williams just got to the serve on her backhand side, screaming "Ouch!" as she missed with a lunge.
"I kept thinking, "I'm not losing this game - I don't care if my arm falls off,' " she said.
After that, her body language changed, and so did her game.
She held her next service game at love, then converted her first break point of the set - after Davenport had game point at 40-0 - for a 5-3 lead.
Williams won nine consecutive points to pull even at one set apiece, closing with her sixth ace of the set and eighth of the match.
In the men's semifinals, Andy Roddick was up a break in the third set against Lleyton Hewitt and seeking a second Grand Slam singles title. He had reason to be confident, too, because Marat Safin had beaten Roger Federer in the other semifinal.
Distracted by an outburst of singing by a heckler, Roddick gave Hewitt a look at a slower second serve and the Aussie smacked a forehand winner down the line. Roddick lost his rhythm.
Hewitt pulled back the break in that seventh game on consecutive double faults by Roddick and went on to win the semifinal 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. The Aussie dropped to the court and kissed it after Roddick's backhand error on the final point.
"I love this place," Hewitt said.
Hewitt, a former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, facs Safin for the championship Sunday in the first Grand Slam men's final scheduled at night.
Roddick fended off all eight break points in the first two sets, some with aces on his second serve, though he lost a tiebreaker.
He broke Hewitt's opening service games of the first and third sets and seemed in control as evidenced by 23 aces, including seven in a row to close the first set and open the second.
In the fourth set, Roddick won only two points in the first three games.
"I came out flat in the fourth set. When he gets a lead, he just stretches it," Roddick said. "He was just going to tighten the clamps and not miss. I think I tried to force a little too much."
Hewitt lost to the eventual winner at all four majors last season, including defeats to Federer at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open - in the final.
Hewitt became the first Aussie into the final here since Pat Cash lost to Stefan Edberg in 1987 and Mats Wilander in 1988. An Australian man hasn't won the national championship since Mark Edmondson 29 years ago.
"I would have given anything to be in this position: to have an opportunity to play one match for the title here in Melbourne," Hewitt said. "Now part of that dream's come true. I get an opportunity Sunday night. But I know as well as anyone that I'm going to have to go out there and play one of my best matches to get up against Marat."
