MELBOURNE, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open Saturday, 6-1, 6-2, to win the event for a third time and jump to 14th in the rankings.
Williams -- an American who won the Australian Open in 2003 and 2005 -- came into the tournament ranked 81st, and stormed through the field to become just the second unseeded women's singles champion at the tournament in the Open Era.
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It was Williams' eighth Grand Slam title.
Sharapova -- the No. 1 seed and the new world No. 1 -- came into the match with a Grand Slam winning streak of 13 matches.
It was her third loss in five matches against Williams.
