Australian Open 2015 Results: Day 13 Scores and Women's Final Review

When Serena Williams is at her best, there isn't a player on the WTA Tour who can beat her. She proved that once again as she edged Maria Sharapova to win the 2015 Australian Open on Saturday. It's the sixth time she's won the season's first major.

The victory brings Williams' career Grand Slam total to 34, with 19 of those coming in singles competition. It also marks the 16th straight time she's defeated Sharapova. A remarkable run of success against a top-tier player with five major titles of her own.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will take center stage for the men's final on Sunday. It should be another entertaining clash between two high-profile players. Before that happens, let's recap the big match on Day 13 at Melbourne Park.

Day 13 Singles Result

Round	Winner	Loser	Score
Final	(1) Serena Williams	(2) Maria Sharapova	6-3, 7-6

Day 13 Recap

The women's championship match was expected to become a highly competitive encounter. For the most part it was, despite the straight-sets result, as Sharapova played well enough to beat most players. Just not Williams.

Sometimes it's hard to quantify the dominance of the American superstar. Since it's reached a point where she's expected to win every major she enters, the only extended discussions about her game seem to come when she gets knocked out early.

Consider this: In the four rounds leading up to the final, Sharapova beat Zarina Diyas, Peng Shuai, Eugenie Bouchard and Ekaterina Makarova (all seeded players) without dropping more than three games in any set.

If there was a chance for her to end that extended losing streak to Williams, who's been battling an illness, this seemed like a golden opportunity. She still couldn't win a set.

The first set began to turn after a short rain delay to close the Rod Laver Arena roof. Christopher Clarey of The New York Times noted that the top seed went on a little spurt coming out of the break and never looked back:

Sharapova continued to fight deep into the second set, eventually forcing a tiebreak. But there was never a sense at any point during the match that Williams was losing control. She was in command throughout against a player who was playing outstanding tennis in the event.

Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated was particularly impressed with how the six-time champion closed out the final:

Williams finished the match with 17 more winners and 13 more aces than one of her most powerful foes on the WTA Tour. And again, she did it while fighting an illness.

The Australian Open passed along a cool look at the updated trophy after her gritty win:

Afterward, she sent out a message of thanks to her support system:

The tennis world keeps on spinning, though. Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times is already looking forward to the French Open in May:

Sharapova deserves credit. She did everything in her power to pull off the upset when it would have been easy to pack it in after the first set given her poor track record against Williams. That just wasn't enough to get the job done this time around.

It does set the stage for a potentially massive year for the American. After a lull during the first half of last season, she's won the last two major events. If she can come out on top at the French Open, the calendar Grand Slam talk will surely heat up.

For now, the focus shifts to the men's final between Djokovic and Murray. The Serbian star should be considered the favorite, but a win for Murray would show he's all the way back after dealing with some injury woes.