The signs for Radwanska are ominous – every time the American has got past the quarter-final at Melbourne Park she has gone on to win the tournament, including previous year when she also beat Sharapova. 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 men’s category, Roger Federer advanced to his 39th Grand Slam semifinal, beating No. 6-ranked Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
The victory puts her just one win away from matching Steffi Graf’s Open-era Grand Slam record of 22 titles, with Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24 edging closer.
The Pole added that the experience she gained from making the Wimbledon final in 2012, along with three other major semis, would be crucial.
Williams, who played her first grand slam at the 1998 Australian Open, said she had surprised even herself by continuing to play well into her thirties.
She will play No. 7 Angelique Kerber in the semifinals.
Two of Sharapova’s 18 defeats by Williams have come in the final of the Australian Open.
In her fourth-round victory against No. 12 Belinda Bencic, she had a career-high 21 aces.
Williams steadied, while Sharapova twice double-faulted en route to 0-40 but won the next five points to make it 4-4.
Maria Sharapova broke Serena Williams in the first game of their quarterfinals match at the Australian Open and then held to go up 2-0 on the world’s No. 1.
Asia’s number one raced to a 3-1 lead on the back of two breaks in the third set but Djokovic reined him in with two breaks of his own and grabbed a third before finishing the Japanese off with a crunching backhand victor after just over two hours.
Kerber is going to need all the help and advice she can get against the imposing Williams who is in her 26th Grand Slam final after sweeping aside fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska easily.
“It’s tough to sit here 30 minutes after the match and talk about the match, but that’s part of my job”, she said.
“I’m really looking forward to taking this challenge and I must play my best tennis”.
Williams held in an eight-minute ninth game and from the end where the sun was causing the server problems, and she would capitalise on that.
“Yeah, I just started slow”, Williams said.
“Against Serena, as we all know, the return is one of her great strengths. I’m very happy I was able to play this way”. “I think I showed everybody that I deserve it. That’s a good feeling”.
“I think if you’re serving maybe 180 (km/hr) against somebody else compared to Serena, that’s an ace”, Sharapova said.
“She presents a completely different game, an extremely exciting game”.
“The No. 1 player in the world at the first grand slam of the season, it’s fantastic. I felt like, ‘All right, I didn’t make those shots, but if I had made those shots, I probably would have won that game.’ I just clung on to that and knew I could play better”. She broke back to make it level-pegging at 2-2 as the Russian’s serve faltered. 1 and 3 in the next women’s rankings. I won against a top-10 player in straight sets.
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But an easy Williams hold was followed by another lapse from Radwanska who sent a forehand long to be broken again.
