Serena to Take on Kerber in Australian Open Final

Radwanska has now made the semifinals or better at a Slam the last five years and is coming off a win at the WTA Finals in 2015 and at the Shenzhen Open at the beginning of this season.

Serena Williams extended her winning run over Maria Sharapova to 18 matches with a straight-sets victory in their Australian Open quarter-final.

Williams’s semifinal opponent on Thursday will be No. 4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, from Poland, who defeated Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain, 6-1, 6-3, in the first quarterfinal Tuesday.

“I’ve never played Konta but Angelique I’ve played her a few times”.

Sharapova has won five majors, including the 2008 Australian title, and has been in three other finals in Melbourne.

Sharapova struck a career-high 21 aces Sunday against Belinda Bencic when rain forced their encounter to be played indoors, but Mouratoglou doubted she could do it again.

Sharapova came out firing to start, taking an early 2-0 lead on Australia Day. Spectators- including a woman with a sign reading: “Just Married But Willing to Exchange for Federer” – were firmly behind him, applauding Djokovic’s service faults and giving Federer a standing ovation when he broke to go ahead 4-2 in the third set.

Kerber, who saved a match point in her first round clash with Japan’s Misaki Doi, will enter her first grand slam final with huge confidence, believing a “nothing to lose” attitude had got her this far. “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”.

Williams was not at her blistering best, with her forehand and first serve both well below par, but it is ominous for the rest of the draw that there is still so much more to come.

Radwanska’s fastest serve in the first game topped out at 140kph. However, Williams then showed her the power of her resolve, fighting back to level the scores at 4-4.

Within a minute of the match starting she had a break point as she hit clean winners and attacked the net.

The match was a closely contested affair for around an hour, before Williams’ powerful ground strokes began to take their toll on Sharapova, who buckled under the pressure in the second set.

Williams broke for a second time to take the first set in 55 minutes but it was clear something wasn’t quite right with the powerful American.

Roger Federer bt Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4) 6-2 6-4 – Berdych entered the quarter-finals playing some of the best tennis of his life, but he wasn’t almost good enough to overcome Federer at Rod Laver Arena.

The world number three has now improved his record over Berdych to 16-6.

At 34 years 176 days, he is the oldest man since 1979 to reach the Australian Open semifinals.

The six-time champion said: “It was super intense”.

Federer advanced to his 39th Grand Slam event semifinal.

Sharapova and Williams have met each other twenty times (18-2 in Serena’s favour). Tuesday’s win see the Swiss reach the semif-inals for the 12th time in 13 years as he continues to shine Down Under. She says those titles have given her a little bit of extra confidence in Melbourne.