Serena Williams and Roger Federer move on to Australian Open semifinals

Sharapova hadn’t beaten Williams since 2004 but started the 2015 Open final rematch in fine style. Neither has Novak Djokovic. It wasn’t enough however, as Williams curbed her unforced errors and then launched a serving assault which closed out the contest.

Her big-match experience pales in comparison to Williams who has won 21 Grand Slam titles, including six at Melbourne Park, and played in four other finals at the majors.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion handed No. 6 Tomas Berdych a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 beating to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the 12th time in the past 13 years.

The tiebreaker will be tricky.

Andy Murray plays his semifinal on Friday against Milos Raonic. “I’m expecting a great fight in two days”.

Of Williams’ 21 grand slams, six of them have come at the Australian Open as she prepares to meet Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the final four.

Williams eased past Radwanska 6-0 6-4 to reach her 26th major final and her seventh in Melbourne while victory would see her go level with Steffi Graf at the top of the Open era champions list. “I was just standing there kind of watching her playing”, said Radwanska, calling the first set the best anyone had ever played against her.

“I’m really looking forward to playing against Serena in the final”, Kerber said. “When I play better, when I’m forced to play better, I don’t know, I do well”.

In contrast, the aces were starting to fly off the Williams racquet as she held for 3-3.

“I love it in Australia; it’s the only tournament that I play that if I lose early, I still hang out”, Serena said.

She set her stall out in the very first point as she thundered back Radwanska’s first serve before two more booming returns sealed an early break.

Serena showed what she was made off as she fought back to bring the score level at 4-4. “She makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me, but for many other players”, she said. “But I didn’t think I’d be doing so much, so fast; so thank you so much for all of your support”, Williams added, addressing the crowd and her fanbase, known as “Rena’s Army”.

Federer also has some inspiration in his next match against Djokovic, namely the recent losses.

One of the players who has really felt the full force of Serena Williams over the years, is the talented Maria Sharapova, who has come up short against the American great on many occasions in her career.

Djokovic has caused his share of pain for Federer since overtaking him in the rankings.

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