Serena's motivation was name of her slain sister

She is only the second unseeded player to win the Australian title in the Open era.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Serena Williams always takes handwritten notes onto the court, as useful reminders or for motivation.
This time, she wrote one word: Yetunde.
Memories of her slain half-sister inspired Williams to a 6-1, 6-2 win over top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final -- her eighth Grand Slam title, her first since winning here in 2005, and her most improbable.
"Usually I write, 'Look at the ball, move forward, do this, do that.' Today I just had one word. My note was just 'Yetunde.' Every changeover I looked at it and I just thought about how happy she would have been ... about what an amazing sister she was to me. I just said, 'Serena, this has to be more than enough to motivate me.' And I think it was."
The killing
Williams used to enjoy talking to her sister after her matches, something that ended abruptly when Yetunde Price was killed in a drive-by shooting in California in September 2003. Working through a series of injuries and her sister's death took a toll on Williams, and the domination that she and her sister Venus had on women's tennis eroded.
Her championship Saturday was her first in two years, and only her second in a Grand Slam after completing her "Serena Slam" in Australia in 2003, when she won a fourth consecutive major.
After doing a dance and skipping to the side of the court to exchange high-fives with her mother, Oracene Price, Williams told the crowd of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena about her motivation.
"Most of all I would like to dedicate this win to my sister, who's not here. Her name is Yetunde. I just love her so much," she said, her voice cracking.
She never lost faith in her game, even when she lost to Sybille Bammer, a 26-year-old Austrian who never has won a WTA Tour title, in the quarterfinals of a fourth-tier tournament at Hobart, Australia, at the start of the month.
Path to crown
Her win over No. 5 Nadia Petrova -- after she was two points from exiting the tournament in the third round here -- was her first over a top-10 player since she won the Australian title in 2005. She then beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets and had a tough quarterfinal win over Shahar Peer, before another straight-sets win over French Open semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova.
She reserved her best for reigning U.S. Open champion Sharapova, who will assume the No. 1 ranking Monday and had a 13-match winning streak at Grand Slams going into the final.
Williams is only the second unseeded player to win the Australian title in the Open era, and it was the most dominating win in a completed championship match at Melbourne Park since Steffi Graf beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-0, 6-2 in 1994.
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