Williams’s semifinal opponent on Thursday will be No. 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, from Poland, who defeated Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain, 6-1, 6-3, in the first quarterfinal Tuesday.
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Sharapova hit only three Tuesday to go along with seven double faults.
Sharapova had fired 21 aces in her previous round against Belinda Bencic.
Williams won the set in 20 minutes, one of the fastest of the tournament and humiliating for Radwanska, last year’s WTA Finals champion and one of the world’s top players. “Hopefully (I’ll) play my best tennis, otherwise I’ll be in big trouble”.
It was a sign of what was to come as Williams crushed her opponent from the outset, storming into a 5-0 lead and leaving the crowd wondering if the Pole would ever get on the board.
Admittedly fried both mentally and physically, Williams then took four months off. When she returned in Melbourne, Williams retired from her first match at the Hopman Cup, citing knee inflammation, and eventually pulled out of the event.
“When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game”, said Williams, a 21-time major victor.
With that going on in the background, Konta went on court and beat Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai 6-4, 6-1 to become the first British woman since 1984 to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam.
The World No. 1 was seen by the tournament doctor twice and appeared to be given a fruit bar – her coach Patrick Mouratoglou told reporters she was dizzy; Williams said she’d suffered from food poisoning a “few days ago” – but even an under-the-weather Williams can win grand slams.
Radwanska managed her first break in the sixth game of the second set to level it at 3-3, giving the crowd on Rod Laver Arena an opportunity to produce a roar of support.
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.
“When I was down 2-5, I was actually playing more aggressive”, Kerber said. “Against Serena, as we all know, the return is one of her great strengths”. “It’s tough when it’s from the start because obviously you got to try to stop the bleeding at some point”. Then Serena must have suddenly remembered that despite her record against Sharapova, she still has to actually play well. “I know that she brings a lot to the game”.
Keys began to feel pain in her left leg early in the second set and, after having her upper thigh wrapped, had difficulty putting any weight on her leg to serve and looked increasingly in pain as the match wore on. “She makes you work, and that’s inspiring”. “Really got me on the back foot”, Sharapova said.
The win makes Federer the oldest man since 1979 to reach the Australian Open semifinals.
An epic seventh game, including the first deuce of the match, allowed her to hold serve.
“She wrote to me, but I was not able to check it right now”, Kerber said. Williams triumphed despite being sick for most of the second week.
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The defending champions face very different hurdles in the last four, however, with Djokovic moving on to face 17-times grand slam victor Roger Federer and Williams’s path to a seventh final blocked by the slight figure of Agnieszka Radwanska.
