According to New York Times, Williams won in her last 17 matches against Sharapova but the fifth-seeded Russian, who won the Australian Open in 2008, is not thinking about her losing streak against the 21-time Grand Slam champion but is expecting another tough game. She was world No 1 and has won so many Grand Slams for a reason. The last time she managed a win was at the WTA Tour Championships in 2004 and her last Grand Slam success over the American was in the Wimbledon final earlier that year.
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With Sharapova again swatted aside, the 34-year-old world number one, gunning to match Steffi Graf’s Open-era Grand Slam record of 22 titles, now has the composed Pole in her sights.
The first set saw Sharapova break Williams in the opening game and then hold her own serve to take a 2-0 lead.
Sharapova’s rivals in the semis, if she wins, will be the victor of a match between Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) and Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain).
“Plus, when I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game”. Her meeting with Giorgi is also the only time that she was out on the court for more than an hour. It’s the 18th consecutive victory for Williams over Sharapova. One can watch Australian Open matches live and exclusive on SONY ESPN, SONY ESPN HD, SONY SIX and SONY SIX HD.
“I’ve been playing this week aggressive and I didn’t start that way so after the first set I just wanted to play the way that got me to the quarter finals”.
“That will be a good match, I have nothing to lose. You’re always trying to improve”, she said. “This is one of the few stadiums where I feel so welcome”.
“It was super intense”, said Williams, according to the BBC.
The only potential cloud on the horizon for Williams at this stage of the tournament is her health.
“She makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me, but for many other players”.
Sharapova reached the Australian Open quarterfinals for the eighth time in her career by defeating Belinda Bencic 7-5, 7-5.
In this combination of file photographs, Russia’s Maria Sharapova, left, plays a forehand return during her women’s singles match against Lauren Davis of the USA on day five of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne and Serena Williams of the U.S., right, plays a backhand return during her women’s singles match against Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan on day seven of the 2016 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
Djokovic, a five-time Australian Open champion, survived 100 unforced errors in the five-set match against Simon to reach the quaterfinals at Melbourne Park for the ninth straight time. She says her focus, as the defending Australian Open champion, is on doing her best. “She’s been playing really well towards the end of the year, and already this year she’s been very consistent”.
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In the other quarter-finals to be played on Wednesday, 14th seed Victoria Azarenka takes on German Angelique Kerber while Britain’s Johanna Konta faces Chinese qualifier Shuai Zhang.
