Serena wins Australian Open crown

Serena Williams beat her older sister Venus 7-6 3-6 6-4 on Saturday to win the Australian Open for the first time and complete her collection of grand slam titles.

The American world number one added the Australian Open to the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open championships she won last year to join Margaret Court, Maureen Connolly, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as the only women to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.

Venus, runner-up to Serena on all four occasions, claimed her own slice of history as the first woman to lose each of the four majors in succession.

Serena won their three previous finals in straight sets but was pushed to three this time after Venus, the world number two, grabbed the second with a single break of serve after losing the first in a tiebreak.

The first nine games of the final set went with serve until Serena broke to win the match after two hours and 22 minutes.