Serena out to inflict more pain on Sharapova

Sharapova won more sets against Williams in three matches in 2004 (four) than in their 18 meetings since (three).

Fourth seed Radwanska will be looking to erase memories of her previous best finish at Melbourne Park, a 2014 semi-final loss to Dominika Cibulkova that lasted just 70 minutes.

Williams faced her biggest threat in the first set of her contest against Sharapova, who had placed her hopes of ending a 12-year losing streak against the world number one on a rejuvenated serve.

Sharapova said: “It’s motivating because she’s at a different level”.

A chink of light for Sharapova is that Williams can sometimes struggle under the weight of expectation as shown by her shock exit at last year’s US Open when she had been expected to close out a calendar grand slam.

Williams took a 5-0 lead before the Russian was able to win a game, with the world no. 1 taking the set and the match 6-4, 6-1.

But Williams held in the third game, closing with an ace after it went to deuce, and then broke to tie it, 2-2. She hit seven against Bencic, but that was more than compensated by her total of 21 aces, the most she has ever hit in a match. “It’s not a stat that’s set in stone – I still have to win two matches”.

“I just feel like I’m really confident in my game right now, not against her or against any other opponent”, in particular, Williams said.

Sharapova, who hit 21 aces against the Swiss teenager for a straight sets victory, said she is looking forward to playing Williams, who cruised past Margarita Gasparyan 6-2 6-1.

In the men’s category, Roger Federer advanced to his 39th Grand Slam semifinal, beating No. 6-ranked Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

It’s a statistic she tries to block from her mind, particularly right before they play.

“Keep setting opportunities. Keep getting to the point where I have an opportunity to play against her. Keep finding a way to turn that around”, she said. You know, she (Sharapova) always brings in something new and something special.

“I think longevity is something definitely to look at”, she said.

Williams is seeking her seventh Australian Open title and she has been rolling thus far in the tournament despite some injury concerns coming in. “At the start of the second set I wanted to play the way I have been doing to get to the quarter-finals”.

“I think that’s the reason I am still playing, because I know that I’m capable, if I play well, of being on top”. I was just dealing with some food poisoning issues from a few days ago. I think that makes me play better.

The signs are not good for Radwanska, who easily disposed of Spanish 10th seed Carla Suarez 6-1, 6-3 win on Rod Laver Arena.

In the other quarter-finals to be played on Wednesday, 14th seed Victoria Azarenka takes on German Angelique Kerber while Britain’s Johanna Konta faces Chinese qualifier Shuai Zhang.

Maybe she can finally go toe-to-toe with Serena.