By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, January 25, 2016
Serena Williams steamrolled Maria Sharapova, 6-4, 6-1, to roar into her seventh Australian Open semifinal.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Stylistic clashes can make great matches. Serena Williams' first-strike skill creates a major mismatch when she meets Maria Sharapova.
Spotting Sharapova two games at the start, Williams erupted with ruthless precision to restore order and continue her dominance of the fifth-seeded Russian.
More: Streaking Radwanska Into Australian Open Semifinals
Williams whipped 13 aces steamrolling Sharapova, 6-4, 6-1, to roar into the Australian Open semifinals for the seventh time.
The top seed hit 20 more winners (31 to 11) and broke four times. Williams exploded with a seven-game surge to break open the match.
The world No. 1 will play Agnieszka Radwanska for a spot in Saturday's final.
The fourth-seeded Radwanska rolled past Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-1, 6-3, to reach her second Australian Open semifinal in the last three years. It was the 12th consecutive victory for Radwanska, who has posted a 22-3 record in her last 25 matches.
The Williams-Radwanska match is a rematch of the 2012 Wimbledon final, which Serena won 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. The 21-time Grand Slam champion is 8-0 lifetime vs. Radwanska, winning 16 of the 17 sets they've played.
The frosty rivalry stokes the competitive fire in Williams, who scored her 18th consecutive victory over Sharapova, extending her command of their rivalry to 19-2. Since she suffered a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss to Sharapova in the WTA Tour Championships final in November, 2004, Williams has won 36 of the 39 sets they've played, including a 6-3, 7-6 (5) triumph in the Australian Open final last February.
She's dispensed 11 years of scar tissue and showed no trace of baseline benevolence once she found her rhythm.
"It was super intense," Williams said afterward. "She's an incredibly intense focused player who was number one and won so many Grand Slams for a reason. Playing someone like that so great you have to come out with fire and intensity."
Yet it was Sharapova who played with more purpose at the start.
Riding a streak of 10 consecutive major quarterfinal victories, Sharapova had not lost a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Dominika Cibulkova blasted past her in the 2009 Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Exploiting a tense three-error game from the top seed, Sharapova broke to open.
The 2008 champion, who hit a personal-best 21 aces in her fourth-round sweep of Belinda Bencic, zapped an ace to back up the break for 2-0—an ideal start.
They are the two most dangerous returners in the sport, but Williams has unleashed her superior serve and speed around the court to punish the former No. 1. Knowing she won't get too many looks on Williams' serve makes Sharapova skittish on her own serve. She spit up two double faults in a row then sprayed a backhand as Williams broke back to level.
Squinting into the high sun trying to locate her toss, Williams pounded a pair of aces for her third straight game.
Wrapping a pair of double faults around a slapped forehand into net, Sharapova stared down triple break point in the eighth game and didn't blink. Saving the third break point with an ace down the middle, Sharapova smacked a jolting inside-out forehand winner to hold for 4-all. That shot elicited a huge fist pump from the Russian and compelled coach Sven Groeneveld to leap out of his seat hurling a fist toward his player.
Ratcheting up the pressure, Sharapova earned two break points in the next game. Williams answered, saving the first with an ace and second with a forehand winner. Booming her ninth ace down the middle, Williams bellowed a loud "Come on!" completing a hard-fought hold for 5-4.
In an arduous eight-minute test, Sharapova fought off three set points. By then, Williams was finding her groove and clocking her forehand down the line with vigor. She rapped a forehand down the line and followed it forward knocking off a forehand volley to seal the 44-minute opener.
Taking a medical time-out after the first set, Williams spent the second set inflicting pain on an opponent who can't hurt her on the move.
"She played quite explosive," Sharapova said. "Thought at times, you know, when I got in the rally I wasn't moving forward, wasn't cutting the angles off enough. She got herself back in the points. She was really explosive off the return."
Williams' dominance is demoralizing, but she left Sharapova dispirited in the second game. The five-time Grand Slam champion was doing what she does best, cracking flat drives in the corners. Williams answered drilling running drives before wrong-footing the Russian with a backhand winner to break for 2-0. Sharapova cast a grim look of resignation toward coach Groeneveld and could not gain traction in the running rallies. .
Swinging more freely, Williams crunched her 10th ace capping a love hold for 3-0. She extended the lead to 5-0 before Sharapova finally stalled her free fall.
Scooping a forehand down the line on her first match point, Williams wrapped up her 18th straight win over her rival in 92 minutes.
The six-time champion has won the Australian Open every time she's reached the semifinals and now stands two wins away from equaling Steffi Graf's Open Era record of 22 career Grand Slam titles.