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Serena Williams vs. Agnieszka Radwanska 2016 Australian Open Semifinal Pick, Odds, Prediction
Sharapova has not beaten Williams since 2004 and has now lost 19 of their 21 match-ups overall as the American strolled to a 6-4 6-1 win on Rod Laver Arena.
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She has played her eight times since 2008 and lost the lot, taking just one set along the way.
Facing the sixth seeded Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals, FedEx shook off a hard first set (7-6) to comfortably win the next two 6-2 6-4.
Meanwhile, Federer will also look to move one step closer to winning the elusive 18th Grand Slam title of his career.
Six-time champion Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals yet again, extending her dominance in a 12-year rivalry with an 18th straight win over Maria Sharapova.
For Williams, winning a quarterfinal match is a good sign.
Asked for an explanation on why she keeps beating Sharapova, 21-time Grand Slam champion Williams credited her rival with pushing her to another level.
It’s the second semi-final Radwanska’s made at Melbourne Park, and she said it wasn’t as easy as the scoreline would suggest.
Said the fourth seed after her win: “I knew it would be a tough one”.
This time around, Radwanska broke to lead 2-0 but this triggered a string of service breaks.
Games then continued on serve, although Sharapova saved three points in the eighth game to hold for 4-4.
The final game of the set saw Williams put a lot of pressure on Sharapova for the break, eventually converting her 4th break point in the game to take the set 6-4. Sharapova remain resilient, saving three set points with a two big second serves and a forehand into the net from Serena, before finally losing the fourth break point.
Early on Tuesday it seemed Sharapova might challenge Williams: She broke Williams’s serve to open the match and held serve for a 2-0 lead before Williams won the next three games.
“It’s obviously always frustrating, but it’s motivating, Sharapova said”.
The five-time major victor came into the opening Grand Slam of the year with a niggling forearm problem that forced her to pull out of the warm-up Brisbane International.
But then Williams, in a truly dominant display, served it out. “She’s a really nice girl”.
The Melbourne Park top seed, who next faces Agnieszka Radwanska, is proud to still be playing and at the top of her game. “She doesn’t give you many angles”.
“She is an intense and focused player”. There is no reason I shouldn’t be looking to improve and to getting my game in a better position than any other previous round.
“So after the first set, I knew I just wanted to start playing the way I had been, which got me to the quarter-finals”.
“I was aggressive, had some variety in there”.
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Djokovic is smarting after his five-set struggle against Gilles Simon, in which he dished out 100 unforced errors, and he will be keen to assert himself against an opponent who has won two of their last four matches.