Petra Kvitova takes on Naomi Osaka in Saturday's Australian Open final with one of them set to emerge as a fresh champion at Melbourne Park as well as the new world number one.
The Romanian broke Williams's serve in the first game but that was the only one she managed for the rest of the opening set as the American bulldozed her way through the set in 20 minutes, serving it out with an ace.
Second seed Andy Murray of Great Britian edged past Canadian Milos Raonic to set up a high-voltage final against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in Melbourne, on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Photos from Day 1 of the Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park on Monday
Here are some photographs from the Opening Ceremony:
How India's players fared in Australia.
With the Sydney Cricket Ground reliably Australia's most spin-friendly wicket, the hosts may find it tough going to manufacture a face-saving victory and square the series.
Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic booked their spots in the Paris Masters second round on Monday, while Roger Federer pulled out of the tournament with next month's ATP Finals on the horizon.
'Ponting would have been dropped had he not retired in 2012'
Dark sunglasses were the order of the day for Australia's triumphant cricket team.
Co-hosts Australians have already started by giving us a taste of the Aussie humour.
'We've played some excellent cricket for 80 percent of the time we've been here but that 20 percent is why we're not going to progress'
Andy Murray embarks on his first Grand Slam campaign as world number one with much stronger title credentials, even if he has lost five finals at Melbourne Park.
Gone are the days when an Indian captain had to spend considerable amount of time trying to figure out where to hide his slow-moving fielders and pace bowlers.
Young India pacer Khaleel Ahmed is learning everyday on his maiden tour of Australia and getting the much needed help from senior pro Bhuvneshwar Kumar on how to bowl on the hard and bouncy tracks Down Under.
Researchers believe that more complex machines may soon be on the drawing board, and military robots might one day even be asked to make some important decisions on their own.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka will no longer bite her tongue or try to fit into any media-trained 'image' as she makes her way on the tennis tour.
Every year Fortune honours 10 innovators, groundbreakers and game changers as 'Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs'.
'I humbly request Kumar Sangakkara to render his service to the country for another one year.'
Sun Yang became the first Chinese swimmer to win the Olympic men's 200 metres freestyle gold medal on Monday.
Shiv Kapur has been invited to the prestigious Quinn British Masters golf championship
'Fully fit' Hossain fired up to face India in ODIs
Missed the #ComicCon at Mumbai. Take a look at these fun pictures from the event!
Only a miracle can save this ship from sinking unnoticed, unlamented at the Box Office for the film and its lead actors leave no stone unturned to let it sink at Emerald Bay.
Yuki Bhambri recovered well from a poor start to beat New Zealand's Michael Venus in a three-setter and advance to the singles quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger event in Traralgon, Australia.
They registered identical cards of two-under 70, that placed them tied 24th at the end of the first round of the British Masters.
Driven by the huge cost advantage, Australia's specialty biscuit manufacturer UNIBIC is making Bangalore its production hub to cater to the markets in South-East Asia, the Middle East and to some extent the UK.
Ravichandran Ashwin will have a bigger role to play during Australian second innings
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc was named the player of the tournament after his team beat New Zealand by seven wickets to win the World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Costa Rica secured a place in the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time on Sunday after beating Greece 5-3 on penalties after the teams finished level at 1-1 after extra time, the Central Americans playing for almost an hour with 10 men.
Sterling has scored six goals in five starts for City this season and has impressed with his overall contribution to Guardiola's prolific attack which has struck 29 goals in eight Premier League games.
Refusing to rate his match-winning ton against Bangladesh in the quarter-final, Indian top-order batsman Rohit Sharma has said the ongoing World Cup campaign is a very prestigious stage and he wants to make the most of it.
The emphatic win gave Australia a 2-0 lead in the five-Test series, a stunning turnaround from the northern Ashes series that England won 3-0 earlier this year.
Maria Sharapova destroyed Zarina Diyas 6-1, 6-1 to charge into the Australian Open fourth round on Friday.
West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite says India have a formidable batting line-up and the contest will be equally tough against the Indian spinners when the four-Test series begins at Antigua on July 21. "Their batting line-up is undoubtedly one of the stronger batting line-ups in the world, home and away, and unfortunately or fortunately for us it a lot similar to India in the Caribbean," Brathwaite was quoted as saying by the WICB website.
Praising his players for the emphatic win over South Africa in the World Cup, team director Ravi Shastri said the management's decision to stick with Shikhar Dhawan, despite his poor form in the run-up to the showpiece event, proved right.
Aborigines inhabited Australia more than 50,000 years before the First Fleet sailed into Botany Bay near Sydney in 1788 after the country had been declared 'terra nullius', or unoccupied.
Former Australia cricketer Brad Hodge called Jasprit Bumrah 'a nightmare to face' in an enormous compliment but picked Cheteshwar Pujara's runs at number three as the vital difference between the two sides.
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