She now plays Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis, after the fourth seed advanced 6-1 6-3 over 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
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Defending champion Serena Williams takes a 17-match winning streak into her last-eight encounter with Maria Sharapova that is a rematch of last year’s final at Melbourne Park. Djokovic is 5-2 all-time against Nishikori and is seeking his fourth semifinal appearance in five years at the Aussie Open.
FEDERER VS. BERDYCH: Federer is playing in his 12th Australian Open quarterfinal and holds a 15-6 edge over Berdych, although the Czech player beat Federer in four sets the last time they played in a Grand Slam in the 2012 U.S. Open quarterfinals. He hasn’t gone past the semifinals here since winning the title in 2010. Sharapova is looking to win her second Australian Open title.
On the men’s side, Andy Murray shrugged off the draining emotions of the past few days off the court, concentrating on his tennis job to reach a seventh consecutive quarterfinal with victory Monday over 16th seed Bernard Tomic.
“When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game”, Williams said. “I’ll look forward to playing the best in the world and it’ll be a great match”.
To finally end her jinx, Sharapova will have to counter the Williams serve, while ensuring her own is firing – as it was against Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, when she sent down a career-high 21 aces.
A Williams double-fault gifted Sharapova one of two break points but both were saved with booming serves as the top seed held to lead 5-4.
“It’s obviously always frustrating”, Sharapova said of her head-to-head history against Serena. “She was really explosive off the return”.
But Williams held in the third game, closing with an ace after it went to deuce, and then broke to tie it, 2-2.
Williams, 34, appeared to struggle with her ball toss in the morning sunshine on Rod Laver Arena as she fell 2-0 down and was not at her best in the opening stages.
Down 5-4 and 0-30, she rallied to get to game point.
Sharapova will need every aspect of her game running smooth if she is to have a shot at besting Williams. Not only that, Williams dominated their last six meetings as she defeated Sharapova without dropping a set.
Heading into the match, Sharapova was serving strong-she fired 52 aces through four matches-and knew it was going to be a critical part of the match against Serena.
Sharapova hasn’t beaten Williams since back-to-back victories in 2004, when she led their rivalry 2-1. “It’s motivating because she’s at a different level”.
“She makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me, but for many other players”, Sharapova said. “She doesn’t give you many angles”.
Federer also has some inspiration in his next match against Djokovic.
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The knee injury that forced Serena out the last quarter of 2015 and her first matches at the 2016 Hopman Cup? “The person who is losing, well, I have lost X amount in a row; I don’t have anything to lose”, Williams said, according to theaustralian.com.au.
