Six-time champion Serena Williams has taken the first set 6-0 in her Australian Open singles semifinal against Agnieszka Radwanska.
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Six-time champion Williams has never lost a semifinal or final at the Australian Open, and is an overwhelming favorite to win her seventh title at Melbourne Park and claim a 22nd major.
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.
Kerber, who is in her first grand slam final, will need to hope that Williams does not play like she did against Radwanska.
Djokovic lost only one of his 28 Grand Slam matches in 2015 – to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final – and has won 37 of his last 38 matches at Melbourne Park, a run that includes four titles.
Williams said: ‘She started playing really well in the second set.
The world number one’s incredible record against Sharapova dates back to an epic semi-final at the 2005 Australian Open, when she scraped home in a 2-6, 7-5, 8-6 thriller.
If Konta prevails, she would become the first women’s grand slam finalist from the United Kingdom since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.
Sharapova was undone Tuesday by Williams’ huge serve – some of them fired down at more than 200 kph (166 mph), with 13 aces.
“So Steffi, write me please”, she said, laughing with the crowd on Rod Laver Arena. I just feel like I’m playing the best I can and I can’t believe I’m in the final’. She didn’t expect to be so sharp after taking a four-month hiatus following last year’s U.S. Open – a necessary break, she said, to recharge after coming just two matches shy of a calendar-year Grand Slam.
As the age of 34, Serena Williams is not getting any younger but she is also not showing any signs of slowing down either. “It’s not a stat that’s set in stone – I still have to win two matches”.
At that point, you had to wonder if Williams thought about her collapse against Vinci.
“When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game”, said Williams, a 21-time major victor. “I must play my best tennis to have a chance”. “That’s the rule, and she needs either to play against Netherlands or in Russia’s next Fed Cup match if we manage to go through”.
Djokovic and Federer split their last two meetings in the ATP Finals, with Djokovic however winning the final.
With the roof on Rod Laver Arena closed because of a thunderstorm closing in, the most obvious noise in the first set was the chirping of trapped birds who’d taken shelter in the stadium.
Then “when you come back to the game you are more excited and it’s less stress”, said Mouratoglou. “I came up with the right intensity, great concentration”.
“It’s motivating because she’s at a different level”, Sharapova said.
After putting up a fight in the second set, Radwanska eventually fell to Williams in the ninth game.
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A win for Williams would put her alongside Graf and just behind Australian tennis legend Margaret Court, who holds the world record with 24 Grand Slam titles.
