Clive Brunskill / Getty Images

Serena Williams celebrates her Australian Open win against Lindsay Davenport on Saturday night. It's the seventh Grand Slam title of Williams' career.

Davenport finished off the set and had six break points in the fifth game of the second, until Williams felt she could push herself to the limit.

“Because I had some pain before I thought, ’OK, this isn’t the end of the world. This isn’t even the end of the match,”’ she said. “I decided I needed to pull my game together a little bit. I was OK mentally — my mind, everything was working. So I figured that was enough.”

Sunday’s men’s final — the first in the Australian Open at night — features Lleyton Hewitt against Marat Safin. Safin is playing his third final in four years at Melbourne Park but has yet to win.

Safin, seeded fourth, ended Roger Federer’s 26-match winning streak in the semifinals. Hewitt, seeded third, beat Andy Roddick in the semis. The former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion is hoping to be the first Australian man to win the national championship since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

Williams, seeded seventh, appeared doomed in the fifth game of the second set, and ready to smash her racket. But she saved six break points to turn the match.

“I was serving so many balls my arm was hurting,” Williams recalled. “I kept thinking ’I’m not losing this game — I don’t care if my arm falls off.”’

Davenport was in a different frame of mind. Three games later, she held game point at 40-0 before dropping serve to Williams.

“I felt like I was playing well and in control pretty much of the match,” Davenport said. “Then I just had that horrible lapse ... and opened up the door for her. She just kept going through it.”

Zimbabwe’s Kevin Ullyett won the doubles title and advanced to the mixed doubles final in consecutive matches Saturday.

He combined with countryman to beat U.S. twins Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-4. He then joined Liezel Huber in a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8) semifinal win over Max Mirnyi and 48-year-old Martina Navratilova, advancing to Sunday’s mixed doubles final against Australians Samantha Stosur and Scott Draper.

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Headlines

• Label

Djokovic, Federer could meet in French SF again

Djokovic bids for 4th consecutive Grand Slam title

Sharapova ready to take game by storm again

I lost focus after French Open title, says Li

Monfils pulls out of French Open with knee injury

Almagro beats Simon to reach Open de Nice final

Radwanska reaches final of Belgian Open

Schiavone reaches Strasbourg semifinal