MELBOURNE, Australia | Call it the battle of the little sisters.

That would be Serena Williams — Venus’ little sister. And Dinara Safina — Marat Safin’s little sister.

Whoever wins the Australian Open (2:30 a.m. Saturday morning on ESPN) will leave the tournament as the No. 1 player in the world.

Williams is chasing her fourth Australian Open title, having won in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and 10th Grand Slam title overall. For Safina, whose brother won the Australian Open in 2005, it would be her first Grand Slam title.

“It would be amazing to have the same trophy as my brother,” she said after her 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win Thursday over Vera Zvonareva. “It’ll be a dream come true.”

Williams has already won one title by advancing to the singles championship. She has broken the career record for prize money won by a female athlete. She has around $22.7 million to date (a total that will be higher with a the title) and moved past golfing great Annika Sorenstam by more than $150,000.

http://www.kansascity.com/159/story/1008466.html

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What are your thoughts on the match? Is it a worthy final? Who will win?

Supporting Safina for the sake of my fantasy team and I really want her to be number 1 in the world. Serena has been number 1 enough. Although if you believe in patterns, Serena always wins the odd number years. She won 03, 05, 07 and now its 09

EDIT: just saw you mentioned those years, sorry bout that.

Safina, never been a fan of the Williams sisters

C'mon Safina!

Safina to win in three sets, in my opinion.

yeah hopefully safina can win this one

Shooter we need you to make a special thread for Federer v Rafa.

Cmon Safina.

Safina and Nadal to win it

I want Safina to win this one. I reckon Serena will win, but I want Safina to win. So we'll see what happens

I want to see Safina win it...but I don't think it will happen. Serena's just playing much better than her. Sure, she's had a bit of luck on the way, e.g. the roof incident last round, Azarenka pulling out etc, but she didn't even need to be at her best to wipe the floor with Dementieva, who was easily the form player and before yesterday, was unbeaten this year.

I would be very surprised if Safina wins.

Serena!!!!

She has already won the doubles, now she can get the singles.

I was thinking, BTW if anyone knows - has anyone done that before? Win the doubles and singles titles? And has anyone ever won the doubles, singles and mixed titles in one Grand Slam?

cmon dinara!

CMON DINARA
YOU RHYME WITH CARBONARA

Don't like either of them, but I hope Serena wins and I think she'll win in 3 Sets.

Serena in 2 tight sets