Serena Williams has revealed she knew she had her destiny in her hands after just three games against Dinara Safina.

Williams powered past a nervous Safina 6-0 6-3 in less than an hour in Rod Laver Arena to win her fourth title in Melbourne and 10th grand slam overall.

The American second seed was never troubled by her Russian opponent, whose serve collapsed under the pressure of chasing her first grand slam title and the world number one ranking.

"I felt like I was in control from the third game," Williams, the new number one, said. "I felt like I was in control from my serve. I always try to hold serve when I start out.

"When she lost serve in her opening game after having a few chances to hold, I got a little more confident off that."

Safina served five double faults and hit 21 unforced errors in her 59 minutes on court as her game crumbled against her more experienced opponent.

"I think the whole tournament I was struggling with my serve," a disappointed Safina said.

"I've been working on my serve. Everything was fine and just suddenly, I don't know, just serving double faults.

"During the match I was not giving her any trouble with my serve. Normally my serve is my weapon. So playing without all my weapons, it's tough against her."

Williams said the thought of reaching double figures in grand slam titles had been far more of an incentive than regaining her number one spot.

"I actually forgot until the end when I was saying hi to my box. They're like 'Hey you're number one'. I was like 'Oh yeah'," she said.

"Like I said, I always believe I'm the best whether I'm number one or whether I'm 100."

Hitting the perfect 10 majors however, was a different matter altogether.

"I wanted to get to 10. You never know what happens in life. I feel like opportunities sometimes don't present themselves twice," the highest prize money earner in women's sport said.

"Obviously I'll have that opportunity again, if I didn't win, to get a chance to get to 10. But I felt like this was my chance to take it and run with it."

In just her second grand slam final - she was runner-up to Ana Ivanovic at the French Open - Safina admitted the pressure had got to her.

"It was the first time for me to play not only for the grand slam, but it's also for the number one spot. I've never been through this situation and she has already," explained the Russian.

"She was many more times in this situation. I would say she was much more experienced than I was today stepping on the court.

"I was feeling good. But then, of course, once you step in the court, it's a different situation."