Australian Open: Serena shrugs off food poisoning to thump Sharapova

The top-ranked Williams beat Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, her 18th consecutive victory and 19th in 21 career meetings back to 2004.

World number one Serena Williams Tuesday said she was enjoying her tennis immensely and plans to keep playing into the 2017 season, proud of her longevity as others have fallen by the wayside.

Sharapova is “an incredibly intense, focused player who was number one and has won so many Grand Slams for a reason”.

“When you’re playing someone like that you have to come out with a lot of fire and intensity”.

Serena Williams’ domination of the most one-sided rivalry in tennis continued as the American hammered Maria Sharapova to reach the Australian Open semi-finals.

Serena’s last match against Maria was a 6-2, 6-4 at Wimbledon so Sharapova taking a set from Williams would be a moral victory.

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.

Sharapova will need every aspect of her game running smooth if she is to have a shot at besting Williams. The second set turned into a nightmare for the five-time Grand Slam champion as Williams unleashed the full force of her power.

This time around, Radwanska broke to lead 2-0 but this triggered a string of service breaks.

He made a fast start to the opening-set tie-break and was in control from then on, breaking twice in the second set and making the decisive move at 4-4 in the third.

Radwanska said she had little interest in scouting the Williams-Sharapova match.

It proved to be vital as she came through a titanic 10th game with a volley on her fourth set point, finally winning the set after a brutal 55 minutes.

Serena Williams will be looking to go one step closer to her seventh Australian Open title with a win today, after starting her first tournament of the year in fine style. “She makes you work, and that’s inspiring”.

“In hindsight, that win (against top players) give me more confidence”, she told the press.

“She played quite explosive”, Sharapova said.

Sharapova’s rivals in the semis, if she wins, will be the victor of a match between Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) and Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain).

“I think if you’re serving maybe 180 against somebody else compared to Serena, that’s an ace”, Sharapova said after the match when asked about her serves.

Despite winning just two of 21 encounters with Williams, Sharapova is adamant she will remain positive in her search for the key to defeating her nemesis. Djokovic played four hours and 32 minutes, but the five-time Grand Slam champion is confident he will be physically ready against Nishikori.