Serena continues her mastery over Sharapova, to move into the Brisbane Final

Serena Williams near decade long dominance over Maria Sharapova continued, as the defending champion won her 14th successive match against the Russian.

Williams went into the match having not lost to her rival since Nov 2004, with Sharapova only managing to get a measly 3 sets in total, off the American since that win. The omens then were not looking good for the 26 year old, and this soon became apparent with a blistering first set performance by Williams, who handily won the opener 6-2.

Sharapova knew then if she was to get that elusive third win over Serena, she would have to strike first and strike she did, breaking Williams in the very first game of the 2nd set. Maria however couldn’t consolidate that break, as Serena broke back instantly. Both players though couldn’t manage to hold their own serves and take advantage of the other’s loss in concentration.

Sharapova to her credit, eventually forced Williams into a tie-break. Serena immediately though took charge of the breaker, going 4-2 up before the change of ends. Maria tried all she could, to not let history repeat itself for the gazillionth time in a row, even valiantly saving two match points. She couldn’t however save a third, as Serena fired down an ace at 8-7, to take the semi-final.

Serena’s usually reliable serve deserted her during the match, with a hefty 7 double faults coming off her racket. When the occasional ace came by, she shrugged her arms in the air, as if to say why isn’t that happening more often.

She definitely will have to improve her serving in the final, where she’ll face number 2 seed Victoria Azarenka. Vika came through a 3 set tussle with Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Azarenka herself has a shoddy record against Williams, with only 3 victories in 13 meetings to her name. The Belarusian has never beaten the world number 1 in Australia, with 3 previous matches all at the Aussie Open, going to the American. She did however split their 4 meetings last year, at 2 apiece.

Meanwhile in the men’s singles, the QF’s saw Roger Federer easily beat home hope Marinko Matosevic in straight sets, 6-1. 6-1. Lleyton Hewitt assured the home crowd that there would be an Aussie in the semi’s, with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Romanian qualifier Marius Copil. There were also wins for Jeremy Chardy of France and Japan’s Kei Nishikori.