The American has now beaten the Russian in 18 consecutive matches dating back to 2004. Also with Sharapova winning 75 receiving points off a first serve, compared with 50 for Williams, the chances favour the world’s best-paid female athlete to topple Serena.
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“He’s the type of player who makes you better”. 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? I don’t think I’ll be playing. “I was trying to be focused on that, especially that it was tough on one side of the court”, she said.
Williams has an 8-0 record against her semi-final opponent Agnieszka Radwanska, who as the fourth seed is the highest ranked challenger remaining in the draw.
Games then continued on serve, although Sharapova saved three points in the eighth game to hold for 4-4.
An untimely bout of food poisoning should have given Sharapova hope of stopping Williams’ run of head-to-head dominance at 17 matches.
The 34-year-old stared down two break points in a 14-point service game, finally edging ahead for 5-4.
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Williams is the clear favorite to win this match, as she has been given a money line of -450 to prevail.
Williams called for the trainer at the break, presumably because of illness.
Following Radwanska’s straightforward victory, Williams was just as clinical in her 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Maria Sharapova.
It’s the second time in three years that she’s reached the final four at Melbourne Park, having advanced to the semifinals in 2014 when she lost to Dominika Cibulkova after beating defending champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals.
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.
Federer, a four-time Australian Open titlist, booked a spot in the quarterfinals with a straight-set win against 15th seed David Goffin of Belgium in the fourth round.
Roger Federer reached his 12th Australian Open semifinal, and his 39th at a Grand Slam tournament, when he beat No. 6 Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
I have nothing to lose… “Hopefully, I’ll play my best tennis; otherwise, I’ll be in big trouble”.
In the sixth game, Suarez Navarro held after six deuces to make it 3-3.
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.
“That is why I am betting on the American 52 to 49”, Kamelzon said.
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But in tennis, it’s all about who wins the last point and for the 18th straight meeting, it was Williams who was happier at the handshake.
