Serena still has hold over Sharapova

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA— Serena Williams attacked Maria Sharapova’s strength and it helped extend her complete domination of their rivalry, earning the six-time Australian Open champion a place in the semifinals.

The top-ranked Williams beat Sharapova 6-4, 6-1 in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, her 18th consecutive victory and 19th in 21 career meetings back to 2004.

“It was super intense,” Williams said of the replay of last year’s final. Sharapova is “an incredibly intense, focused player who was No. 1and has won so many Grand Slams for a reason.

“You have to come out with a lot of fire and intensity.”

Each of the six previous times Williams has won a quarter-final at Melbourne Park, she has won the title at the season-opening Grand Slam tournament.

Up next for her is fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the fifth time. She has never won a major.

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

In her fourth-round win against No. 12 Belinda Bencic she had a career-high 21 aces. Against Williams, she had three, and seven doublefaults.

Sharapova broke to open the match and held for a 2-0 lead. But Williams held in the third game, closing with an ace after it went to deuce, and then broke to level at 2-2.

Early in the set, points were short. As it got longer, the rallies got longer, the shrieks and grunts got louder and the emotions were fully on display.

Both players struggled with their ball toss at one end, repeatedly practicing their toss to work out the best position to serve into the sun. Williams also had to concentrate hard to hold in the ninth game, when a baby screamed for most of the game.

In men’s doubles, Canadian Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock lost their quarter-final in three sets to Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas.