Serena defeats Radwanska to reach final

Serena Williams provided another reminder of her dominance in women’s tennis with a 6-0, 6-4 win in the Australian Open semifinals against Agnieszka Radwanska, who is soon to move to the No. 3 ranking.

She has not dropped a set at all and conceded just 17 games since the Giorgi clash and battered the five-times grand slam champion Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1 in the quarter-finals and fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0 6-4 in the semi-finals. “I was just standing there kind of watching her play”, the Polish player said later.

If Williams wins Saturday’s final against No. 7-seeded Angelique Kerber, she’ll equal Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam singles title, a record in the Open era, and the second-most in history behind Margaret Court’s 24.

Defending champion Serena Williams – a 21-time grand slam victor – and major final debutant Angelique Kerber will go head-to-head in the Australian Open women’s final. I think she will go out there and she knows that she must play also good tennis to beat me.

Despite the huge task facing her, Kerber is taking a crumb of comfort from having beaten Williams once before, at Cincinnati in 2012.

Error count Both players were tentative as the first game got underway.

Undeterred, she sharpened up and began pushing Kerber around, and with power and precision returning to her groundstrokes, Konta got a break back to be 1-3 behind.

Radwanska was in serious trouble with Williams attacking her vulnerable second serve, and a double fault left her flailing 0-3 behind. What makes Konta’s run even more impressive is the fact that this is her main draw debut at the Australian Open.

The 7th seed won the set 6-2 and reached her first major final. “Like I keep saying, I don’t look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘You’re number this in the world”, she said.

“I had a lot of challenges here also in this tournament where I was really nervous”, Kerber said.

“This has been the first Grand Slam that I won back in 2008”, Djokovic said. I know that she brings a lot, you know, to the game.

The nerves that very rarely showed in Konta’s quarterfinal win over Shuai Zhang reared their head early in the first set.

Williams is widely tipped to defeat Kerber but, despite not losing a set in her first six matches, insisted she wasn’t unstoppable and that underestimating the German would be a big mistake. She is locking horns with a player who is on a 12-match winning streak at this arena and has lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup -the women’s final here – six times, including past year. Williams will be looking to tie Graf’s mark of 22 Grand Slam titles with a victory.

Although her level dipped in the second set, Williams got the decisive break in the ninth game to go up 5-4 and then closed out the match in a brisk 64 minutes.

The second set was much easier for the 28-year-old German, though, who easily dispatched her overmatched opponent to claim the match 7-5, 6-2 and earn a trip to the final against Williams.

The World No. 1 came close to completing the grand slam in 2015, only to fall in the semifinals at the U.S. Open.

Admittedly nervous coming into Melbourne, Kerber has dismissed her inner reservations to reach the final, dropping just one set for the tournament in her opening round match against Misaki Doi.

Williams and Kerber have tried to play down expectations heading into Saturday’s decider and Kerber said there was more pressure on Williams.