On 25 January 2003, Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus in the Australian Open final to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. The victory completed the first "Serena Slam", making her the first player to possess every major at once since Steffi Graf in 1994.
A rocky road through Loit and Clijsters
Her path to the Melbourne title was far from smooth. In the opening round she narrowly edged France's Émilie Loit, ranked No. 56, by 3-6, 7-6, 7-5. Then, in the semifinal against Kim Clijsters, she trailed 1-5 in the final set and saved two match points before storming back with six straight games.
One break at 5-4 decided the sister final
Across the net stood Venus, the world No. 2, who had not dropped a set all fortnight. Serena captured the first set on a tie-break, 7-6(7-4), before Venus found her rhythm and a 120mph ace to level the match. In a tense third set, Serena broke serve decisively at 5-4 to claim it 6-4.
It was her maiden Australian Open crown, her fifth major title overall and her fourth in succession. The triumph completed both a non-calendar Grand Slam and the career Grand Slam. Venus suffered a record fourth consecutive runner-up finish at a major, every one a loss to her sister.
"I never get choked up, but I'm really emotional right now," Williams told the crowd at the trophy ceremony.
The Melbourne win opened a long run that would carry Williams to 23 major singles titles, the Open-era record. The sisters would meet in four more Grand Slam finals in the years that followed.
