It was a blur to me too - Safina

Dinara Safina says the Australian Open final was as great a blur to her as it was to the fans she apologised to at Rod Laver Arena last night.

"I was just a ball boy on the court today," a sheepish Safina said after her 6-0 6-3 loss to rampant American Serena Williams.

The mismatch was over in 59 minutes, the Russian conceding she was powerless to stop the onslaught from Williams, who became just the seventh woman in history to snare 10 grand slam singles titles.

"She played exactly the way she had to play and she was much more aggressive and she just was taking time out of me," Safina said.

"So I didn't have that much time to put back myself on to the court. She didn't even let me to come into the match."

The 22-year-old had been hoping to erase the memories of her nerve-stricken French Open final loss to Ana Ivanovic last year.

Instead, Safina admitted she choked again, this time because the world No1 ranking had been up for grabs.

"It was first time for me to play not only for the grand slam, but also for No1 spot. I never been through this situation, and she was already," Safina said.

"She was much more times in this situation. She was much more experienced than I was."

While disappointed, Safina vowed not to dwell on her latest grand slam near miss.

"I hope it's not the last one, you know," she said. "I still have time. I'll just go on the court now and practice.

"Those mistakes that I've been doing, just will try to work as hard as I can that they will never happen again.

"After every loss, I try to take what was good and what was wrong and to work on my weaknesses, to get them better so that my opponents will not have that easy next time."

A finalist in nine events in the past eight months, Safina's consolation will be a rise to No2 in the world on Monday, climbing above Serbian Jelena Jankovic but remaining behind Williams, who will return to the summit for the third time in her career.

Safina admitted it may be some time before she is able to dislodge 27-year-old Williams.

"I mean, she's a champion. She proved it. It just depends on her," Safina said.

"She doesn't play that many tournaments. That's the problem with her. If she plays every week, like most of the players do, then, of course, it will be tough (for her to stay No1)."

Safina's defeat also denied her and older brother Marat – who beat Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 Open men's final – two unprecedented family doubles.

No brother-sister combination has ever reached world No1 and nor have a brother and sister each won a slam.

-AAP