By Erik Gudris | Saturday, January 31, 2015

Serena Williams, at times during the Australian Open women's final, seemed to be in a rush to achieve history. Perhaps it was due to her lingering cold, the pressure of being expected to win, or the relentless fight of her opponent. But Williams didn't let any of that stop her from claiming a sixth Australian Open title on Saturday night.

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Standing across the net from her was Maria Sharapova who knew all too well about history. In her case, the very lopsided winning record Williams enjoyed over her stretching back to 2004.

With so much written about the rivalry that isn't, the question remained. What could Maria do different to try and finally defeat Serena?

The initial plan posed by many was that Sharapova needed to take control early in the match. She didn't help that strategy by surrendering her serve in the opening game. Sharapova managed to hold in her next service game for 2-1, but it already felt like the set was over.

While Sharapova displayed fine touch on a drop shot that won her a point a few games later, it still felt like she needed some outside intervention to halt Williams's march. That came at 3-2, 30-all with Williams serving. A light drizzle that turned into rain stopped play momentarily as the roof on Rod Laver Arena was closed. Williams, not happy about the delay, left the court. She soon returned but then left again to be attended to by the tournament doctor. The unwell Williams later revealed she threw up during the break before taking the court.

Williams, despite all of that, appeared to refocus and played with more intensity. She fired off an ace followed by a forehand winner to hold for 4-2. She pressured Sharapova's serve again and broke at love for 5-2.

Though Williams faltered serving out the set, she broke Sharapova again at love thanks to a backhand winner. With that, Williams had the set 6-3.

Williams continued her domination into the second set by firing off three aces. Sharapova, who by now had lost 10 straight points on her own serve, looked almost at the verge of being routed when she fell behind 15-40.

Yet Sharapova, fighting back as only she does, held serve for 1-all. The level of tennis soon rose in quality as both women entered into a serving contest with neither blinking. At 3-3, Williams, perhaps sensing the end in sight, yelled out too early after hitting a huge serve as she tried to close out the game. Called for hindrance by the umpire, Williams soon found herself down a break point but managed to close out the game.

Neither woman budged in their service games with Sharapova now hitting harder and making better inroads into Williams's own serve. The first test for Sharapova came while she served down 4-5. A forehand miscue created a match point for Williams. Sharapova, as she had done earlier in the tournament, fired off a forehand winner to save it. Sharapova held for 5-all as the intensity increased with both women yelling and exhorting themselves almost at the same time in-between points.

Things reached a fever pitch when a tiebreak was needed to decide the set. The serving battle continued, yet it Sharapova's first serve that deserted her when she needed it most. Though Williams took an early lead, some easy misses indicated Williams felt the moment too. After hitting a forehand winner to go up 5-3, Williams berated herself to get her feet moving. Williams, though still not moving well, then ripped another forehand that was just too good creating another match point at 6-5.

With the title on her racquet, Williams fired off yet another ace, her 18th of the match. Yet a let was called just as Williams started to celebrate. Williams once again needed to calm herself as the finish line remained within reach. Williams responded to the delay by striking another ace, in the exact same spot, that this time it was perfect.

Looking over at her team as if to say, "Did I really do it?", Williams could finally celebrate the 6-3, 7-6(5) victory.

This is now the sixth Australian Open title for Williams and her 19th Grand Slam singles title overall putting her in sole possession of third place in terms of the all-time greats. Only Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24) hold more.

Sharapova, during the trophy ceremony, acknowledged Williams's accomplishment saying "as a tennis player you want to play against the best." Later, she admitted disappointment in the loss.

"Look, it's always tough getting to a final stage of an event where it's down to two players and you end up become the one that's going home with the smaller trophy, there's no doubt about it. No matter how you played, well or not, whatever the scoreline is, it's always tough. But it will be all right."

On if she feels she is getting closer to that elusive win over Williams, "If I keep setting up myself chances, absolutely."

Williams, who at times didn't think she would win the tournament at various times throughout the two weeks, felt relief at finally winning at Melbourne again.

"Yeah, it just felt so good. I mean, I've been through so much the past week. I really, really didn't expect to win. I didn't expect to be here this long. I was walking down the hall yesterday and I was thinking, Wow, I'm still in the tournament. It's been a long time since I've been to the final here or the semifinal. It's been a long time coming. I was just really, really elated to have an opportunity to walk out on the final match."

After saying before the tournament started that she was aiming to either reach or perhaps pass Graf's record of major singles titles, Williams is now aware that her goal is a little closer in sight. But can she win more than 22 titles?

"I would love to get to 22. I mean, 19 was very difficult to get to. Took me 33 years to get here, so…I would love to get there. But I have to get to 20 first, and then I have to get to 21. There's so many wonderful young players coming up, so it will be a very big task. My next goal was just to get to 19. That was my goal. So I didn't think it would happen this fast, to be honest, but it feels really good."