Intro:

Serena Williams fired an ominous warning to her rivals by storming to her first title of the year by beating Victoria Azarenka in straight sets in the final of the Brisbane International on Saturday.

Script:

World number one Serena Williams took on world number two Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Brisbane International on Saturday.

Williams - the defending champion - got the only break of serve in the first set as Azarenka put a forehand wide in the seventh game to give the American the upper hand.

The American then sealed the set 6-4 with an ace.

Azarenka suffered a further set back when her serve was broken in the first game of the second set, but the Belarusian is made of stern stuff.

Instead, Azarenka broke Williams twice to take a 4-2 lead.

But the world number two could not keep hold of her advantage, as Williams broke again to level the scores before securing another break for a 6-5 lead.

That enabled her to serve out the set 7-5 - and extend her winning streak to 22 matches, as well as pick up her 58th title of a career that looks like showing no signs of slowing down.