Props to Serena, who wrapped another Australian Open title over Justine in three long, tough sets, and defended her title for the first time ever.

To be honest, not being a huge fan of either of these players, I was really hoping for an entertaining match, or something outrageous to happen. It wasn’t a “classic”, but it was high quality tennis and a pretty solid match overall. However, Justine’s serve was just not getting in enough and still needs some serious work on accuracy. And even after the second set win, to me, Serena still felt entirely in control. She didn’t have much trouble finishing it off.

Overall I think it’s kind of great for women’s tennis, regardless of your thoughts on these players. Serena really cut the antics down, she was often seen visibly calming herself on court, and really wanted this thing. Justine was incredibly humble afterwards, admitting an emotional couple of weeks, and how much it meant to her to be able to climb back to the top and contest for titles. The two even had a nice moment at the net.

It’s a bit of an anti-climactic end to a generally non-eventful slam as far as the women are concerned. No hometown underdog upsets, no line judge tirades, no comeback champion (almost). No Serena saving match points, no excessive grunting. And no Russians. The Australian Open last year featured 3/4 Russian quarterfinalists. The past two slams have had 3 Belgians, two Chinese, and zero Russians. Odd. But that’s ok, it’s early in the season. After Indian Wells and Miami, I’m sure they’ll all have the crazy juices going just in time for the clay season.