Djokovic will start as favourite against Federer after he beat him in the Wimbledon and US Open finals a year ago on his way to winning three Grand Slam titles and finishing runner-up at the French Open.
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Fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska has become the first player through to the Australian Open semifinals, overpowering Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 in the opening match at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
“I think he’s still on a pretty high level, playing great tennis”.
Australia Day fireworks were expected on court and off on day nine of the championships but Djokovic extinguished Kei Nishikori’s flame 6-3 6-2 6-4 and Williams doused every spark of a threat from Maria Sharapova to win 6-4 6-1.
Novak Djokovic believes beating Roger Federer is as tough a task as it has ever been as the rivals prepare for another grand slam showdown at the Australian Open.
Sharapova double-faulted for the fifth time to fall behind 40-0 in the first set’s eighth game yet went on to win after a resilient effort that she capped with a remarkable forehand to tie the set at 4-4.
Serena continued her solid form through the tournament with a 6-4, 6-1 win over the No. 5 seed to advance to the semifinals. Of 20 meetings, Williams has won 18 of them, including all three when they meet at the Australian Open.
Williams has yet to drop a set down under and had only dropped eight total games in her previous three matches. Sharapova did have break points at 4-4, but when she failed to convert, the American ran off seven games in a row en route to a 6-4, 6-1 rout.
Williams went on a five-game roll until Sharapova held in the second set, and then finished it off in the seventh game after saving break points.
“I feel like if it was five-all, the momentum would have been a little bit different than going into where she played a really great beginning of the second set”, Sharapova said.
Despite his 15-6 head-to-head record against Berdych, the Swiss legend has come unstuck against the 6 5 Czech previously at Grand Slams, notably the 2012 US Open and Wimbledon two years earlier.
Radwanska committed only 10 errors, frustrating her opponent throughout the encounter to become the first Polish player to reach the final four Down Under.
“But I was saying before, this is new season, new Grand Slam; you’re starting over again. I’m very happy I was able to play this way”.
“Nothing’s guaranteed in sports”, she said.
Sharapova said: “It’s motivating because she’s at a different level”.
“I think if you’re serving maybe 180 against somebody else compared to Serena, that’s an ace”, Sharapova said after the match when asked about her serves. “That is why I am betting on the American 52 to 49”, Kamelzon said.
“I sort of had a good start”.
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The gulf between Williams and Sharapova, a former number one and five-times grand slam champion, speaks volumes about the balance of power in the women’s game.
