Serena Williams edged Maria Sharapova to win her 19th Grand Slam title, separating herself from Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for second-most in the Open Era.

MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams held off a determined Maria Sharapova to capture her sixth Australian Open title and the 19th Grand Slam title of her illustrious career, separating herself from Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for second-most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era.

Going into the final, Williams was the favorite - not just because she was No.1 and Sharapova was No.2, but because she had won the pair's last 15 meetings, 12 of those coming in straight sets.

Early on in the match that pattern continued, with Williams breaking in the very first game and, after a short rain delay and the Rod Laver Arena roof closing, grabbing a second break for 5-2. Sharapova got one of the breaks back in the next game but Williams broke one last time to take the first set, 6-3.

All of that went out the window in the second set, as the Top 2 players in the world held tightly to all of their service games, with absolutely no breaks of serve - Williams did have her chance to finish the match with Sharapova serving at 4-5, 30-40, the first match point of the night, but the Russian bludgeoned a forehand down the line for a winner and subsequently held that service game.

The tie-break was tight but Williams forged ahead, building a 6-4 lead, and after Sharapova fought off a second match point with another huge forehand down the line, Williams had the match on her racquet, stepping up to the baseline to serve on match point No.3. There was a bit of a hiccup - she fired what looked like a massive ace out wide on the ad side, and she even began celebrating, but the serve was called a let. But she regrouped and fired the exact same ace to finally close the match out.

The No.1-seeded Williams had the victory over the No.2-seeded Sharapova, 6-3, 7-6(5).