Serena Williams claimed her fourth Australian Open singles title by thrashing Dinara Safina 6-0 6-3 in Melbourne on Saturday. The 27-year-old American, now ranked world number one following a 10th career Grand Slam singles crown, produced an awesome display of power in a final which lasted just 59 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.
Safina, by contrast, was never in contention and struggled to cope with Williams' ruthless approach throughout the contest while persistent problems with her own serve didn't make the daunting challenge any easier.
In what was only her second Grand Slam singles final, the 2008 French Open runner-up made a total of five double faults and 21 unforced errors and there was little sign of the battling qualities which usually makes her such a tough opponent to overcome.
Williams, fresh from triumphing in the doubles final with sister Venus on Friday, was completely dominant in the opening set and smashed an array of unstoppable winners as she broke Safina three times to wrap it up in just 22 minutes without dropping a single game.
However there was a slight glimmer of hope that a comeback could be on at the start of the second set as the 22-year-old Russian delighted the crowd with a backhand cross-court winner to break Williams and finally get off the mark. In fact this game marked the first time Safina had even won a point on the second seed's first serve.
This mini-revival was brief as Williams immediately broke back against the Olympic Games silver medallist before order was fully restored when she held serve to love.
The next game was arguably the most crucial of the match as the third seed spurned an opportunity to square the match while leading 40-30 when driving what should have been a winner into the net.
The pair exchanged the next two points but after a fabulous Williams cross-court forehand touched the line to bring up break point, Safina double-faulted once again and the contest was now all but over.
Having then fallen 4-1 down, Safina did rally to win her next two service games which ensured she avoided the ignominy of suffering the heaviest ever Australian Open final defeat - which remains as Steffi Graf's 6-0 6-2 victory over Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1994.
Williams showed no evidence of nerves in what proved to be the final game of the match as she polished it off to love before celebrating the latest singles triumph in her sensational career.