Maria Sharapova looking forward to Serena Williams retirement following Australian Open defeat

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a forehand return to Kei Nishikori of Japan during their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016.

Unfortunately, the Japanese ace squandered that lead completely, with Djokovic breaking back to go 3-3 and Nishikori managing only a single game thereafter, as Djokovic finished the match off at 6-4 in the final set.

Open fans will be treated to the 45th instalment of an epic career series, with Federer and Djokovic locked at 22 wins apiece.

The first set was over within 22 minutes. Djokovic, though, claimed victory on five occasions, and on the biggest stages – at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the final of the ATP World Tour Finals. Last year, Djokovic won three of the four Grand Slams, and his dominance over men’s tennis is now as pronounced as Federer’s was during his magnificent peak between 2004 and 2007. She makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me, but for many other players. His third round match against Grigor Dimitrov proved to be more of a test, but he came through 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

So the question lingers on: Does the ageing Federer still has it in him to master Djokovic?

Fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska has become the first player through to the Australian Open semifinals, overpowering Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 in the opening match at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

The semi-final was nearly a non-contest between the players who’ll be No 1 and No 3 in the next women’s rankings.

Roger Federer’s head-to-head record against Novak Djokovic is 22-22, but Djokovic has won the last two grand slam finals against Federer. They have played eight times since 2008 Agnieszka has lost the lot, taking just one set along the way.

Federer, at 34, is in the twilight of an imperious career including his all-time men’s tennis high of 17 Grand Slam titles, and still has the game to remain in the men’s top three.

Roger Federer has advanced to his 39th Grand Slam semifinal, beating Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Maria Sharapova broke Serena Williams’s serve to open the match and stuck with her through the next seven games.

The game was in stark contrast to the four and a half hours he took to defeat Gilles Simon in the fourth round although in his post-game interview, Djokovic revealed he chose to rest his body and mind, telling reporters “I have not practiced yesterday”.

“I mean, they’ve been dominating tennis before (Andy) Murray and myself came along for many years”, Djokovic continued. The match stopped briefly at the end of the third as rain started to fall in Melbourne and the organizers closed the roof.

“Physically I’m feeling a lot better, mentally I needed that break after the Open”, she said, but “I didn’t think I would do this well this fast”.

“Honestly, I played so many times against both of these guys”.

After Federer won their first four matches and 13 of their first 19, Djokovic began to even the ledger during his famous 2011 season which is widely regarded as one of the best in history, where the Serbian took his game to the next level after capturing the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles. She’s a really nice girl.