Dan is the BBC SPOTY Man

BBC Sport

Dan Carter has been named BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year for 2015.

Carter beat Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Katie Ledecky, Jordan Spieth and Serena Williams to the award that was decided by public vote for the first time.

The Racing 92 fly-half was crowned World Rugby player of the year after helping New Zealand retain the World Cup in October.

"I'm thrilled to have been voted BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year by the UK public," Carter said.

"It's been an incredible year for me on British soil and the support has been phenomenal.

"It was an incredibly competitive shortlist and I'm honoured to have been recognised alongside these great sportsmen and women from around the world."

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Kerber Wunderbar in Melbourne

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Angelique Kerber stunned world number one Serena Williams in three sets to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

Kerber, seeded seventh, won a thrilling final 6-4 3-6 6-4 at Melbourne Park.

The 28-year-old is the first German to win a major singles title since Steffi Graf at the 1999 French Open.

Williams, 34, was beaten for just the fifth time in 26 Grand Slam finals, and the American missed the chance to tie Graf's open-era record of 22 titles.

Kerber, who saved a match point in her first-round win over Misaki Doi, will move up to number two in the world rankings.

Kerber had won just one of six previous matches against Williams and was making her Grand Slam final debut, but she was the better player over two hours and eight minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

She led Williams in the ace count until the latter stages, limiting her to just seven overall, while the American racked up 46 errors to just 13 by Kerber.

Williams made 23 mistakes in the first set alone - sparking memories of her desperately nervous display in losing to Roberta Vinci at the US Open last September - and Kerber took full advantage to claim it after 39 minutes.

However, the defending champion cut her error count to just five in the second set and claimed it thanks to a single break in game four.

Kerber twice moved ahead in the decider and a stunning sixth game saw the German produce two fine drop shots and win a breathtaking 19-stroke rally to cling on to her serve and edge closer to victory.

Nerves took hold and she was broken while serving for the match, but she launched into the Williams serve once again and clinched the title when the world number one sent a volley long.

Kerber said afterwards that being able to say she was a Grand Slam champion "sounds crazy".

"It's my dream come. I worked for this my whole life," said the German.

"It's been such an up and down two weeks, I was match point down in the first round and had one foot in the plane to Germany.

"Now I have beaten Serena and won the championship. I have so many emotions, so many thoughts, but all of them good ones."

Williams was gracious in defeat, telling Kerber: "Angie, congratulations. You deserve this and I'm so happy for you. I really hope you enjoy this moment."

The runner-up added: "Would I give my performance an A? No, but this is all I could produce.

"I'm not a robot. I do the best that I can. I try to win every point but realistically I can't. Maybe someone else can."

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Williams Unstoppable for Radwanska

Serena Williams underlined the difference in class and power between her and the rest of the women’s field with a 6-0, 6-4 demolition of fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday to reach her seventh Australian Open final.

Every time the American has made the final at Melbourne Park she has gone on to win the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup.

Victory in Saturday’s final against the seventh seed Angelique Kerber would give her a 22nd grand slam title, moving her to a tie with Steffi Graf for the most in the Open era.

Williams romped through the first set in just 20 minutes before Radwanska showed some fight in the second but she was unable to stop the momentum of the American, who clinched her place in the final in 64 minutes.

“I’m really excited to be in another final. It blows my mind right now,” Williams said in a courtside interview. “I just feel like I’m being the best I can and I can’t believe I’m in another final.

“She started really well in the second set and making some great shots and hitting it deep and I just thought that I had to be aggressive.”

Williams began in ominous fashion breaking the Pole’s serve in the first game with Radwanska’s lack of power highlighted by the blistering nature of the American’s returns.

Radwanska’s fastest serve in the first game reached just 140 kph. Williams was returning the ball at over 130.

The fourth seed appeared resigned to defeat in the first set by the fourth game. She barely got a backhand return to a Williams serve then stood, with slumping shoulders, and watched as the 34-year-old put the overhead smash away.

Williams cleaned up the first set in just 20 minutes before Radwanska elicited the largest cheer of the match at that time when she held serve in the first game of the second set, avoiding an embarrassing potential double bagel 6-0, 6-0 score.

The crowd on Rod Laver Arena, which had its roof closed due to heavy rain in Melbourne, however managed to almost open it in the sixth game with a decibel-rising roar of support for Radwanska when she broke Williams to level it at 3-3.

Williams, however, broke again in the ninth game and then served out with three aces to seal a match in which she belted 42 winners to Radwanska’s four.

Radwanska, who had been bidding to reach her second grand slam final after Wimbledon in 2012, also heavily lost her only other semi-final appearance at Melbourne Park when she was beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Dominika Cibulkova in 2014.

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Nadal Knocked Out in Melbourne

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Rafael Nadal bowed out in the Australian Open first round as fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco came from behind to win 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Nadal led by two sets to one and then 2-0 in the decider in Rod Laver Arena but Verdasco came roaring back, unleashing an incredible 90 winners on the way to a superb victory.

The world number 45 will now face Israel’s Dudi Sela in round two, while Nadal exits a third consecutive grand slam in the first week.

“I played unbelievable in the fifth set from after the break he made against me,” Verdasco said.

“I just started hitting winners — I don’t know how. I was closing my eyes and everything was coming in.”

Australian Nadal Nadal overcame Verdasco in a momentous five-setter in the Australian Open semi-finals six years ago, but few expected a similar battle with Verdasco now 32 and with his best days behind him.

Nadal, though, is not the powerhouse presence he once was, having crashed out in the second round at Wimbledon last year and US Open third round.

There had been signs of a revival in recent weeks but the 14-time major champion was simply unable to cope with Verdasco’s superior baseline hitting, which yielded 90 winners, 41 of them forehands, to Nadal’s 37.

A double fault at 6-6 in the first-set tie-break was enough to give Verdasco an early lead, but Nadal looked to have ridden the storm when he clinched the next two sets - the first following a thrilling rally, which ended with Nadal roaring and pumping his fists.

However, Verdasco refused to lie down, cranking up the power on his forehand and nicking the fourth set to force a decider.

Again Nadal edged ahead with an early break in the fifth, but it was Verdasco who strung together six games in a row, including two breaks of serve, to seal victory in four hours and 41 minutes.

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