Williams routs Sharapova in Australian Open quarters

In fact, 34-year-old Serena Williams has beaten Maria Sharapova in every one of their past 18 meetings, stretching her unbeaten record over the 28-year-old to an incredible 12 years, thanks to her win at the Australian Open. Williams then spoke of a different approach to her tennis this year.

An ultra-competitive opening set eventually gave way to a landslide as the world No. 1 rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Maria Sharapova to advance to the Australian Open semifinals.

“I think he’s still on a pretty high level, playing great tennis”.

Novak Djokovic hammered an off-key Kei Nishikori and Roger Federer put on a masterclass against Tomas Berdych as they set up a dream semi-final at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

She also reached the semis in Australia two years ago. For the 18th straight time, Williams upended her Russian opponent in piling on a win streak that dates back more than a decade – 4,088 days to be exact.

Each of the six previous times she has done it at Melbourne Park, she has won the title.

Meanwhile, Radwanska booked her spot in the Australian Open semifinals for the second time, winning over Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 in the first match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.

Williams, seeking her seventh title here, broke fifth-seeded Sharapova’s serve and clinched an entertaining first set on her fourth set points.

The world number one, who has not lost to Sharapova in 12 years, now faces fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Serena Williams, with 21 Grand Slam titles in her trophy cabinet, thinks she has nothing left to prove to anyone and just wants to have fun for the remainder of her career.

On a baking hot day in Melbourne, Sharapova raced out of the blocks, breaking Williams to 15 before holding with an ace to take a 2-0 lead.

Williams called for the trainer at the break then bossed Sharapova around the court, grabbing a 5-0 advantage as the Russian surrendered meekly.

Sharapova said she was out-hit: “She played quite explosive. I didn’t think I would have done as well as I have”, she told reporters.

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.

“Any round (against Federer) feels like a final because of the fact that we are, you know, big rivals, we played so many times against each other”, Djokovic said.

Williams has won all eight clashes with Radwanska on tour, including the 2012 Wimbledon final that went three sets. “I don’t see myself playing anything before Indian Wells [in March]”.

After his long five-setter against Gilles Simon, when he made a startling 100 unforced errors, Djokovic cut that down 27 in a faster-paced, shorter-rally encounter against Nishikori, a U.S. Open finalist in 2014. I mean, yes, he played good. The doctor’s visit seemed to work, as she stormed through the second set 6-1 to reach the semifinals. “At the start of the second set I wanted to play the way I have been doing to get to the quarter-finals”.

“I’m not sure why it happened”.