I have the experience of playing two finals, and I'm learning."Hewitt, the No 3 seed, was not even born when Mark Edmondson won the championship in 1976. "I believe that everything that happened to me before, it had to happen."I couldn't change if it was meant to be this way Things are different this year. Safin has already contested two finals here and lost, thwarted by nerves in 2002 and plain exhausted last year after back-to-back five-setters in the semis and quarters.This year the 25-year-old Russian is confident and fit, having solved the puzzle of how to beat Federer, with the help of Peter Lundgren, the world No 1's former coach."I believe in destiny," said Safin, who lost to Federer in last year's final and to Thomas Johansson in 2002. By fulfilling a promise to play doubles in Melbourne with her friend Corina Morariu, who had spent a long time out of tennis because of leukemia, Davenport ended up coming into the final having been on court in the previous two weeks for more than 16 hours, twice as long as Williams, and having lost the doubles final the previous day.Little wonder, then, that Davenport, who played with the usual heavy strapping on a long-term left-thigh problem, was so pooped that she lost the last nine games in a row and won just six points in a final set which breezed by in 20 minutes."In the end I was definitely a bit fatigued," she admitted "I had spent a lot of hours on court But [Serena] raised her game She started serving really well and hard.

Whatever the 12-minute stoppage did for the injury, and it was clearly of considerable benefit, it indisputably slowed Davenport's momentum.While Serena was being tweaked, Lindsay examined her fingernails at length, and though she mopped up the first set when the action resumed, the Williams resuscitation from then on could have been mapped on a graph, heading inexorably upwards while Davenport's dipped out of sight.The decline of the 28- year-old world No 1 was depressing, but perhaps not unexpected, as Serena revved up the counterattack. Having gone lame in the first few minutes, Serena Williams came roaring back as only she can to pummel Lindsay Davenport to an exhausted halt and collect her seventh Grand Slam 2-6 6-3 6-0 in a contest of bizarre swings. Having suffered an early injury to her lower back and lost the first four games, Williams had prolonged on-court treatment, lying flat on her face, from the WTA physiotherapist Carole Doherty before heading for further repairs in the dressing room. Perhaps it was something to do with the closed roof, which threw a normally sun-splashed Australian Open into deep shadow, but there was a Biblical twist to a women's final featuring the lame and the halt. That earnt him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct from the umpire, and he was dangerously close to a point penalty when he stared at the same line judge a few points later.The momentum was firmly with Safin now and after holding to level at 4-4, he broke Hewitt again when the Australian served a double fault attempting to save a second break point.From 4-1 down Safin had taken five games in a row to win the set and take a two sets to one lead.

Hewitt saved a break point with a stunning forehand but then gesticulated furiously towards a line judge he felt should have called a ball out earlier in the rally. Russia's Marat Safin staged a superb fightback to beat home favourite Lleyton Hewitt and claim his first Australian Open title. Safin, beaten finalist in 2002 and 2004, trailed 4-1 in the third set but produced some superb tennis to win the next seven games in a row. Hodgson banged over another penalty and Magnus Lund raced 40 metres for a try when Blowers was dispossessed, and although Grayson kicked his third penalty Sale led 20-17 at the interval.Hanley's second try - courtesy of Hodgson's long cut-out pass - with the conversion and another penalty by the England outside-half took it to 30-17 and, with the game all but won, Sale's only target was a bonus point. The rest of the England hopefuls came through unscathed. Northampton's chances were hardly helped when Marc Stcherbina, Bruce Reihana and Shane Drahm failed late fitness tests. It seemed Ben Cohen would be repositioned at centre instead of having a run on the wing before Andy Robinson finalises his line-up for Cardiff.