Forget about the tennis. For two-and-a-half sets that was not of a particularly high standard, although things got considerably better towards the end.

Forget that Victoria Azarenka retained her Australian Open title and also ensured that she remained at number one in the world for at least another week.

Even forget about the fact that Azarenka became just the fifth active player to have two or more Grand Slam titles to her name.

No, what the 2013 women's Australian Open final will be remembered for is the drama surrounding the match.

There was a lot of talk going into the match about

Andy Murray and Enrique Molina

Andy Murray's victory over Roger Federer was a masterclass. Not because it showcased the best of what the Scot has to offer in terms of his tennis and fitness - both of which are impeccable, of course. But it demonstrated something even more important:  that Murray now has total mastery of himself. It was a controlled display of increased maturity from the world number three such as Tramlines has never quite seen before.

There were signs of that change in Murray towards the end of last year when he won the US Open, but what has been particularly impressive about his run to the final in

When Serena Williams claimed in her post-match interview that injury had cost her the chance of Australian Open victory, and said that her ankle was "this big"  while moving her hands in the air to denote a watermelon-sized object, the world of tennis raised its eyebrows and chuckled at what seemed like a bit of innocent exaggerating to make her point.

But as the grotesquely swollen limb you see on the bottom of this page shows, there was no hyperbole about her claims. Because while it may look like a prop from The Nutty Professor, the limb below is actually Serena Williams's right ankle,

The murky issue of gamesmanship in tennis reared its ugly head at the Australian Open as world number one Victoria Azarenka took a controversial medical timeout en route to securing her semi-final victory against American teenager Sloane Stephens.

Azarenka described it as "very important" as a means to conquering nerves and trouble with breathing, but it prompted jeers around Arthur Ashe with her opponent Stephens clearly affected by the apparent gamesmanship.

Leading by a set and 5-4, the defending champion had just missed five match points when she took a 10-minute timeout, leaving her

We again saw the unsavoury side of Serena Williams at the Australian Open on Wednesday as she went down to Sloane Stephens.

Williams, widely condemned for her rant at a line judge at the US Open in 2009 - which cost her the point and, as she was defending match point, the match - is known for her explosive temper. But it doesn't often come out as she wins far more tennis matches than she loses.

However we were given a sudden reminder in perhaps the least appropriate circumstances against Stephens: Serena has been something of a mentor in the 19-year-old star's fledgling career, and Stephens is

It came as an unwelcome statistic for Maria Sharapova as she brushed aside another opponent with consummate ease to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open in record-breaking fashion.

The Russian has dropped just nine games on her way to the semis - three less than Monica Seles' 12 back in 1991 - but she was not happy about breaking the record, with a lack of game time ahead of her last-four clash with Li Na.

"To be honest, those are not the statistics you want to be known for," Sharapova said dismissively when interviewed about the record courtside after her win over Ekaterina Makarova.

Andy Murray is in what experts are calling the tough half of the Australian Open draw. But as far as the last-16 stage is concerned, it couldn’t have been easier.

After defending champion Novak Djokovic went through the wringer to see off 15^th seed Stan Wawrinka in a five-hour instant classic, Murray strolled through an hour and 35 minutes of formalities against a spent Gilles Simon.

Despite being seeded one place above Wawrinka, Simon of course was barely fit for the fourth round encounter with Murray after his own gruelling victory over Gael Monfils in the previous bracket left him spending

A tired and emotional Novak Djokovic told a courtside interviewer that “he doesn’t have the words to describe that match” after a gruelling, exciting and nail-biting 1-6 7-5 6-4 6-7(5) 12-10 victory over Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

After five hours of world class tennis and the constant risk of a potential upset, it would be understandable if the defending champion did not have the mental capacity to answer such questions mere moments after putting the winning shot past the approaching Swiss-German.

So, on behalf of the 15,000 entertained fans in attendance