“It was super intense”. “She’s an incredibly intense, focused player who was No. 1 and has won so many Grand Slams for a reason”. The question is, do you come in off a low ball because you’re being dragged in, or are you coming in on your terms?
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In the women’s semifinals, Williams will be facing fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3.
Roger Federer ramped his game up another level in a clinically efficient 7-6(4) 6-2 6-4 win over sixth seed Tomas Berdych on Tuesday and advance to his 12th Australian Open semi-final.
The four-time Australian champion used a full array of shots, including some vintage backhands, in his 48 winners, to avenge two losses to Berdych at Wimbledon in 2010 and the 2012 U.S. Open. “Tomas has caused me a lot of problems over the years”, Federer said.
“He’s not afraid to come out and play aggressive tennis which he did, I just needed to weather the storm, hang in there and wait for my opportunity”.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan in their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday.
Williams has reached the last four at Melbourne Park on six previous occasions and gone on to win the title every time. It’s not a statistic she was aware of, but one she didn’t mind.
It could only have worked out better had this 45th meeting between the two superstars who own perhaps the most compelling rivalry in tennis had met in the title match.
Laver went on to win the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in 1969, giving him his second Grand Slam.
Not only has Sharapova failed to beat Williams in 12 years she has struggled even to stretch her, winning only three sets during her losing streak. Williams had 13 aces, three double-faults, hit 31 winners to 11, and broke Sharapova’s serve four times.
As for his final workout before the closing stages of the championships, he said: “I played well overall”. You have to really go out there and take it from her, because she’s not going to give you anything.
Sharapova broke to open the match but Williams held in the third game and broke back to level at 2-2. The Serb won 20 of 25 points on serve in the set. As it progressed, the rallies got longer, the shrieks and grunts got louder and the emotions were fully on display. “But I think he’s doing okay now, better now.”, Federer said. It cost her in the eighth game when she had three break-point chances, taking the high-risk rather than the high-percentage option with her return. He is giving off a youthful bounce that belies his 34 years; little wonder, given that several of his service games lasted barely a minute against Berdych, and that he converted 24 out of 29 net approaches into winners.
Scoring a first-round win over Christina McHale, the fourth seed followed up that result by squashing Eugenie Bouchard’s upset hopes.
“I think if you’re serving maybe 180 (km/hr) against somebody else compared to Serena, that’s an ace”, Sharapova said.
“Any round feels like finals because of the fact that we are big rivals, we played so many times against each other”, Djokovic said.
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“It’s a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work”.
