Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1, her 18th consecutive win over her rival.
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“It’s motivating because she’s at a different level”, the five-time grand slam victor said.
She has never won a major.
In their last nine matches – dating back to 2013 – only once has Sharapova notched more aces than double faults.
Sharapova came out firing to start, taking an early 2-0 lead on Australia Day.
Fourth-seeded Radwanska, 26, beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 to advance to her second Australian Open semi-final.
An untimely bout of food poisoning should have given Sharapova hope of stopping Williams’ run of head-to-head dominance at 17 matches.
Ahead of the Williams-Sharapova showdown, Radwanska, a semi-finalist a year ago, said she did not mind who she faced in the last-four clash on Thursday.
“I have nothing to lose and it does not matter who I play”.
She’s dispensed 11 years of scar tissue and showed no trace of baseline benevolence once she found her rhythm.
Williams said the Russian brings out the best in her. “When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game”, she said.
Yet it was Sharapova who played with more objective at the start. Williams broke Sharapova after holding four ad points in the 14-point long game.
Williams spoke of a different approach to her tennis this year. Although clearly superior, Williams often had lapses that allowed her opponent to make the match closer than it should have been.
Sharapova broke the world number one in the first game and mounted a stiff challenge in the opening set but wilted in the second to extend a losing record that goes back 12 years. That shot elicited a huge fist pump from the Russian and compelled coach Sven Groeneveld to leap out of his seat hurling a fist toward his player.
The momentum swinging, Sharapova manufactured two break points in the ensuing game.
Nishikori was treated for what appeared to be a right thigh injury between the second and third sets, though it didn’t seem to hamper him. In contrast, the aces were starting to fly off the Williams racquet as she held for 3-3.
In an arduous eight-minute test, Sharapova fought off three set points.
So far at the Australian Open, though, she has been supremely focused.
After winning an intense first set, Williams had medical treatment – later saying it was just for an upset stomach.
“She played quite explosive”.
When asked by Courier why he hasn’t performed the controversial Sneak Attack By Roger (SABR) move this tournament, Federer responded: “You want to see it?” Thought at times, when I got in the rally I wasn’t moving forward, wasn’t cutting the angles off enough.
All Sharapova needed to do was put the ball in the court, and Williams was going to find a way to miss.
The ageless champion is oozing confidence after breaking Berdych nearly at will and crunching 46 winners to romp into the semi-finals for the 12th time in 13 years.
But in tennis, it’s all about who wins the last point and for the 18th straight meeting, it was Williams who was happier at the handshake. With the age difference, the longer a match lasts between Djokovic and Federer, the more of an advantage it should give the younger Serb star.
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Djokovic’s mark is nearly as good – he’s 5-0 in semifinals, and in finals, in the season’s first major.
