But the third-seeded Federer raced through the match in 1 hour, 28 minutes, finishing up shortly after midnight. She is to face fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the semifinals, after she put out Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 6-3. I know very well how good he plays, especially in the later stages of a major event.
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In Australia he has dropped only one set on his way to the last four, to Grigor Dimitrov in the third round.
Williams has a stellar track record at Melbourne Park, each of the six previous times she has won a quarterfinal she’s gone on to snare the Australian Open title.
Friedsam was given a time warning and then a point penalty in her last service game, conceding the game to Radwanska and a 6-5 lead.
It was a bitter setback for Nishikori, under the coaching of former French Open champion Michael Chang, who was looking to make an impression at the year’s first Grand Slam. For the first time, he was pushed further to play the fourth set, but before it, he broke Dimitrov twice.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion handed No. 6 Tomas Berdych a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 beating to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the 12th time in the past 13 years.
Novak Djokovic says his wins over Roger Federer in big games past year give him great confidence for his semi-final face-off with the Swiss Maestro. It’s Djokovic’s favourite – but there are plenty of rivals for the Serb.
Overall, Simon saved 19 of 25 break points. “Then you can really focus on strategic plans and on the game”.
“So he’s playing some terrific tennis on the hard court”. “She’s been playing really well towards the end of the year, and already this year she’s been very consistent”.
The next day he was back in action in doubles with countryman Sam Groth. Fifty-nine minutes after the match began, Federer captured the first set. Williams is favored to dominate the match and the rest of the tournament.
“It’s not a stat that’s set in stone”, Williams said. “The incident has been closed”.
Serena Williams of the United States celebrates after winning a point against Maria Sharapova of Russian Federation during their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016.
She hasn’t beaten Williams since back-to-back victories in 2004, when she led their rivalry 2-1.
The wager I like here, though, revolves around the first set being a quick one: in all seven of their meetings, the opener has never been closer than 6-4, with three ending 6-1, two 6-2 and one apiece at 6-3 and 6-4.
It stands for “Sneak Attack By Roger” and it’s a maneuver the Swiss star introduced a year ago but hasn’t yet displayed in Melbourne. “Lost many easy games”, Nishikori lamented.
Federer vs Goffin will start at 7 pm local time (8 GMT) at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
In her fourth-round win against No. 12 Belinda Bencic she had a career-high 21 aces.
“To be quite honest, when I walked out of the press room I thought I was somewhat tough, but at the same time I was fair because I said nice things about him”.
Williams was struggling to find her rhythm, but Sharapova failed to pull away and instead the American broke back for 2-2 after her opponent’s backhand drifted wide.
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“He (Simon) plays every match like that”. Neither has Novak Djokovic.
