Serena Williams cruise to Australian Open final beating Agnieszka Radwanska

In the dog-eat-dog world of competitive tennis, “sympathy” doesn’t feature in the dictionary.

This is the 45th time the players have met, and they’ve each won 22 times.

The world number one, who has never lost a semifinal or final at the Australian Open, provided another reminder of her dominance in women’s tennis with a 6-0, 6-4 win over her Polish counterpart at the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne. I needed time off just to, like, take a minute and just chill and re-heal, get ready. “We always get along”, she said. She s a really nice girl.

Radwanska’s fastest serve in the first game topped out at 140kph.

“She s been playing really well towards the end of the year, and already this year she s been very consistent”.

Victory against Kerber would draw Williams level with Graf’s Open-era best 22 major titles while taking her own tally of Melbourne triumphs to five. The 7th seed won the set 6-2 and reached her first major final.

But Radwanska won a game to start off the second set and finally began to offer some form of resistance.

Kerber is attempting to make the transition from counter-punching to aggression and it seems to be working. The German would serve out the set out at love to take the opener, 7-5. “You can’t underestimate Kerber”.

“I know that she brings a lot to the game”.

The defending champions both made their way back to the Australian Open final, with Djokovic beating Federer 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and Williams defeating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 on Thursday.

Asked after she beat Johanna Konta in the semifinals if she would seek out Graf’s advice, Kerber laughed and said, “Steffi, write me please”. “She was playing unbelievably good”. Williams will be aiming for her 22nd Grand Slam title, and Kerber her first.

Williams has played Radwanska played eight times since 2008, with the 34-year-old world number one winning the lot.

The opener was a blur. Williams was impeccable in the first set, smashing 18 winners and just four unforced errors while losing only seven points.

The chirping intensified as Williams served in the sixth game of the second set, and she looked up angrily after her off-balance forehand from the baseline conceding her only service break of the match.

“She started unbelievable, with such power and speed”, Radwanska told reporters. I was just standing there kind of watching her playing.

A fan favorite due to her varied game, Radwanska rebounded from a break deficit and led 4-3 in the second.

The set then stayed on serve to 4-all.

“That’s not how I view my career and life”, Konta said.

“Serena is really showing her great tennis on all the Grand Slams”. With Konta and Andy Murray reaching the semifinals, it marked the first time since 1977 two British players found themselves at that stage at a major.

“She s an wonderful competitor”.

The local crowd were urging on the Sydney-born 24-year-old but Kerber, herself known to tense up on the big occasion, had to do fairly little for two quick-fire breaks as the German raced into a 3-0 lead.

Once, however, Kerber broke for 6-5 the match decidedly swung in her favor. “I still have to win two matches against potentially two extremely tough opponents”, she said.

The penultimate rounds were played out on day 11 at Melbourne.

Then “when you come back to the game you are more excited and it’s less stress”, said Mouratoglou.

“She is fresh mentally”.

Daria Gavrilova, the adopted daughter of Australia, did raise some eyebrows with her brand of tennis.

“She was constantly messaging me, so I saw her more often”, Konta said.

That year, Anke Huber made the final where she lost to Monica Seles.

“Twenty-three is more important”.