Serena: I love playing Sharapova

Williams put on another show in the quarterfinal round of the Australian Open, winning her 18th straight against career rival Maria Sharapova.

The 28-year-old Russian, who last beat Williams at the season-ending tour championships in 2004, kept pace with her 34-year-old opponent for all but the last game of the first set, before crumbling in the second.

Up next for her is fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 6-3 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the fifth time.

“You have to come out with a lot of fire and intensity”. Federer, the 17-time grand slam champion, progressed first, beating sixth seed Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-4 to earn a spot in the last four at the Australian Open for a record extending 12th time.

Looking to tie Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles, Williams is also after a seventh Australian Open title, her first coming back in 2003 to complete her first Serena Slam.

Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares are through to the men’s doubles final at the Australian Open after a 6-3, 6-1 win over the French team of Adrian Mannarino and Lucas Pouille.

Sharapova had fired 21 aces in her previous round against Belinda Bencic.

Serena dictated the match, hitting 31 winners and blasting 13 aces, compared to just 11 winners and three aces from Sharapova despite jumping out to that 2-0 lead in the first set.

Williams needed nearly eight minutes to hold in her next game, saving two break points before she aced and gave out a huge “come on”.

Williams said the Russian brings out the best in her. “When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game”, she said. She revealed that she has been observing the Polish player toward the end of the year and perceived how good Radwanska is. “I thought at times, you know, when I got in the rally I wasn’t moving forward, wasn’t cutting the angles off enough”, Sharapova said.

Williams appears to be at her dominant best entering the semifinals.

Serena Williams has made six Australian Open semifinals in her career. “She makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me, but for many other players”.

Williams has been romantically linked to rapper Drake in the past, but most recently, her rumored boyfriend is Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. She was really explosive off the return.

The Melbourne Park top seed, who next faces Agnieszka Radwanska, is proud to still be playing and at the top of her game.

Sharapova said she was inspired as well as frustrated after her latest defeat. She is 6-0 in both semifinals and finals down under.

“Nothing’s guaranteed in sports”, she said. And Radwanska, who is on the short list for “best player who hasn’t won a major”, is playing some of the best tennis of her life.

“I’m playing good tennis, fun tennis for me anyway”. “I was just dealing with some food poisoning issues from a few days ago”, Williams said. Earlier in this tournament, Radwanska recovered to win from a perilous 2-5-in-the-third deficit.

“I think that’s really important”, the world number five said.

Williams woke up, however, and sent Sharapova into a temporary tailspin with a crushing return in the fourth game, later breaking for 2-2. “I think since the beginning of (this) tournament she plays very well”.