Serena Williams has won her 23rd Grand Slam title with a straight-sets win over sister Venus Williams in the final of the Australian Open.
The second seed was bidding to break Steffi Graf's Open-era record of 22 Major crowns, and she achieved that feat with a 6-4 6-4 victory over her elder sibling.
The pair were meeting in the final of a Grand Slam for a ninth time, but the start from Serena suggested that she was playing with little emotion as she broke Venus's serve in the opening game of the match.
Venus soon struck back, but Serena was generally having the better of the play and she broke for a second time towards the end of the first set to move closer to history.
Her sister - now at the age of 36 - was competing in her first Major final since 2009 and she showed no signs of wilting away as she matched Serena for large parts of the second.
However, Serena sealed the decisive break midway through the set and although Venus got to 15-30 when trying to stay in the match, Serena reeled off three straight points to finally surpass Graf's record, which has been her target for the past few years.
The win also means that Serena will return to the top of the world rankings.
Darren Plant
