Williams was able to protect her serve in the ninth game and go on the attack against Sharapova. I don’t think I’ll be playing.
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Williams woke up, however, and sent Sharapova into a temporary tailspin with a crushing return in the fourth game, later breaking for 2-2.
Up next for Williams in the semifinal round is No. 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, a 6-1, 6-3 victor over Carla Suarez Navarro.
But after falling into a 2-0 hole, Williams reeled off six of the next eight games to take the early advantage. She is an intense and focused player.
This was the World No 1 Williams’ 18th straight win against the Russian.
It dates back to 2004 when she last beat Williams in the Wimbledon final.
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will meet yet again in the 2016 Australian Open Women’s Quarterfinals match on Tuesday. It’s motivating because she’s at a different level and she makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me but for many other players.
Sharapova’s serve fell apart and Williams looked every bit the world’s best player, cruising through the second set to capture her 18th consecutive victory over Sharapova.
“Right now I have nothing to lose”, Radwanska said.
In the men’s category, Roger Federer advanced to his 39th Grand Slam semifinal, beating No. 6-ranked Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
“She’s very explosive. She stays quite close to the baseline, she cuts the ball early, she doesn’t give you many angles”. “We are big rivals, we played so many times against each other”, said Djokovic.
Sharapova fired down a career-best 21 aces in her fourth-round victory over Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic but had trouble imposing her serve on the world No.1.
“She’s a great defender and a great girl, and regardless who gets to the final, it will be a good thing”, Williams said on court. I don’t think I’ll be playing.
“Something about her game”, Williams, bidding for a 22nd grand slam title in Melbourne, said to reporters when asked why she has so much success against Sharapova.
She had her chances in the quarter-final though, with two break points at the end of the first set, but Williams delivered when it mattered most and it was one-way traffic thereafter.
Williams is 25-4 in Grand Slam semifinal matches.
The Czech had beaten Federer in their last two meetings at Grand Slams but was unable to extend that record as he fell to a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss, with Federer now due to meet Djokovic for the 45th time in his career. Sharapova remain resilient, saving three set points with a two big second serves and a forehand into the net from Serena, before finally losing the fourth break point.
In men’s doubles, Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and American partner Jack Sock lost their quarter-final match to Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas in three sets.
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Djokovic only hit 11 groundstroke winners in disposing of Nishikori, who made a total of 54 unforced errors and had his service broken six times.
