But Williams worked her way into the match in style, saving break points at 4-4 and winning seven games in a row at one stage.
Advertisement
Williams was clinical as she beat world No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets on Thursday afternoon, taking the first 6-0.
Three out of Sharapova’s last five major tournaments have now been ended at the hands of the world number one, who goes through in Melbourne to face Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.
“Physically I’m feeling a lot better”, she said.
Radwanska beat No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the fifth time. Sharapova has lost straight 18 matches to Serena, last recording the win in 2004 as a 17-year-old.
In her 16th Australian Open, Williams, who said this week she had no plans to retire any time soon, got on the front foot immediately, and effortlessly.
“Keep setting opportunities. Keep getting to the point where I have an opportunity to play against her. Keep finding a way to turn that around”, she said. I know that she brings a lot, you know, to the game.
Radwanska was 5-2 down in her deciding set against Anna-Lena Friedsam but the 21-year-old German was reduced to tears when her legs simply gave up on her, allowing the fourth seed to recover for a 6-7 6-1 7-5 victory.
Sharapova and Serena Williams will meet each other in Melbourne on the night to January 26.
Sharapova’s work coming into the tournament had clearly been focused on her serve, which was much improved on the years when she was plagued by shoulder issues and which earned her 21 aces in her fourth round match on Sunday.
But the aggressive returns finally helped Williams convert on her fourth set point, following a heavy ground stroke to the net and putting away a volley.
Sharapova and Williams have met each other twenty times (18-2 in Serena’s favour).
The ninth day of the Australian Open gets underway tonight as the first round of quarterfinals in the men’s and women’s singles draw will be played. “It will be a good match”, Williams predicted.
Berdych had won their past two meetings at Grand Slams but the most recent of those was four years ago, and Federer remained a solid favourite having won their past four matches.
Sharapova will be desperate to avenge last year’s final loss to Williams, although the omens are not good for the Russian. “I’m happy to have that and I’ll be ready for the semi”, she said. “But I didn’t start like that so I chose to play the way that got me to the quarter-finals”. She’s very explosive. She stays quite close to the baseline. When they last met at a Grand Slam – the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open – Radwanska won in three sets.
Williams has yet to drop a set down under and had only dropped eight total games in her previous three matches.
Advertisement
Despite remaining an invincible force, the driven American said she had learned to relax and was enjoying her tennis greatly now that the clock was ticking on her career.
