Australian Open 2017 Results: Final Look at Women's Bracket and Prize Money
Stuart Newman@@StuNewmanSport
Featured ColumnistJanuary 29, 2017
Serena Williams cemented her status as the most decorated champion of the Open era by chalking up an astonishing 23rd Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open on Saturday.
The American saw off her sister Venus in straight sets in the final (6-4, 6-4) to win her seventh championship in Melbourne and return to the top of the world rankings.
Here we look at the Williams sisters' route to the final and check out the prize money from the first Slam of the year.
| 2017 Australian Open Women's Singles Bracket | ||
| Quarter-Finals | Semi-Finals | Final |
| Coco Vandeweghe (W 2-0) | ||
| Garbine Muguruza | ||
| Coco Vandeweghe | ||
| Venus Williams (W 2-1) | ||
| Venus Williams (W 2-0) | ||
| Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | ||
| Venus Williams | ||
| Serena Williams (W 2-0: 6-4, 6-4) | ||
| Karolina Pliskova | ||
| Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (W 2-1) | ||
| Mirjana Lucic-Baroni | ||
| Serena Williams (W 2-0) | ||
| Johanna Konta | ||
| Serena Williams (W 2-0) | ||
| 2017 Australian Open Prize Money | |
| Placing | Prize Money |
| Winner | £2.24 million |
| Runner-Up | £1.15 million |
| Semi-Finalist | £545,000 |
| Quarter-Finalist | £266,000 |
Serena came into the Australian Open as the second seed behind Angelique Kerber, but as soon as she started to gather momentum, the seedings went out the window.
Despite taking on the likes of Barbora Strycova and Johanna Konta, she never looked in danger of taking an early flight out of Melbourne.
In fact, throughout the entire competition, Serena didn't surrender a single set and, frankly, breezed to her 23rd Slam title to move beyond Steffi Graf in the Open era stakes, per BBC Sport:
Even in the final against a similarly celebrated player, she didn't blink for a second and knocked off two routine sets to get her hands on the familiar Australian Open trophy once again.
Following the final, Serena dedicated the win to her defeated opponent by calling her a true inspiration, via the Australian Open's official Twitter account:
Now back at world No. 1, it's a case of who can stop the 35-year-old in her tracks, as age doesn't appear to be a factor in her brilliance.
Even though Serena moved ahead of Graf in the Slam charts, she still has one mountain left to climb: becoming the most successful women's tennis player of all time.
Australian Margaret Court won 24 major titles during her hugely successful career, and Serena will undoubtedly be eyeing her record before retirement plans creep into the mind.
Her next assignment on the quest for greatness will be the French Open in May—a tournament that hasn't been too kind to the American down the years.
Although Serena has won three titles at Roland Garros, she's only made the final four times overall and bowed out in the championship round last year.
Still, based on her form in Australia, women's tennis should be afraid and fully prepared to bow down to a new queen of the court.