Wawrinka eases into last four
Stan Wawrinka has continued his grand slam hot streak to be the first man through to the Australian Open semifinals.
The reigning US Open champion defeated French 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 6-3 in niggly encounter yesterday to move to within two wins of a second title in Melbourne.
Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, will play either Swiss countryman Roger Federer or unseeded German Mischa Zverev on Thursday night for a place in Sunday’s final.
The 31-year-old is bidding to become the first man other than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win successive grand slam singles titles since Andre Agassi at the turn of the century.
Wawrinka’s victory over Tsonga was his 11th in a row at major level - but it wasn’t without incident.
The two were involved in an animated exchange after Wawrinka won the opening set, apparently over eye contact.
‘‘Really hard to hear exactly what the irritation was ... but it seemed to be a conflict about them looking at each other,’’ Seven commentator Jim Courier said.
Wawrinka said Tsonga was always a tough customer to deal with.
‘‘It’s never easy to play against him ... he’s a strong player and the conditions were quite fast today,’’ he said. ‘‘It was a little bit windy and (the ball) wasn’t too easy to control.
Venus Williams continued her astonishing late-career revival by felling Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 7-6(3) yesterday to reach her first Australian Open semifinal in 14 years and become the oldest woman to reach the last four at Melbourne Park in the professional era.
The quarterfinal will hardly be remembered as a classic, with both Venus and the 24th-ranked Russian surrendering serve with alarming regularity despite perfect conditions for tennis at Rod Laver Arena.
In the end it was 36-year-old Venus’ experience that proved decisive when the pressure rose, and Pavlyuchenkova crumbled with a double-fault on match point to boost the American’s hopes of a maiden title at Melbourne Park.
‘‘Oh my gosh I’m so excited,’’ said the seven-times grand slam champion after closing out the one hour and 48-minute tussle. ‘‘I want to go further. I’m not happy just with this.
‘‘I’m just so excited that I have another opportunity to play again.’’
Following her run at Wimbledon, 13th seed Venus has now made the semi-finals at two of the last three grand slams.
She was 22 when she last made the semi-finals at Melbourne, during a run to the 2003 final where she was beaten by younger sister Serena, the current world number two, in three sets.
Venus will play an all-American semifinal against Coco Vandeweghe, who thrashed former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-0 in the following quarterfinal at Rod Laver Arena.
The mouthwatering prospect of a repeat of the 2003 final against Serena beckons if the second seed can get there as well.
Venus has stormed through the Melbourne Park draw without losing a set and was never truly threatened by Pavlyuchenkova who let herself down with nine double-faults.
Both players struggled to hold serve but Pavlyuchenkova buckled at the bigger moments. When serving at 5-4 to stay in the first set, she double-faulted and butchered a forehand to offer three set points.
Venus needed only one, hammering a backhand return down the line and giving a yelp in triumph.
There was no more resilience on serve in the second set, with both players trading breaks to move to 4-4.
Pavlyuchenkova double-faulted to fall back to 0-30 at 6-5, two points from elimination, but bravely rallied to take Williams into a tiebreak.
The Russian led 3-1 before it all fell apart.
She double-faulted to allow Venus to draw level and the American spanked a huge return down the line to edge ahead.
Venus hammered a forehand winner to bring up three match points and Pavlyuchenkova surrendered the match meekly with her ninth double-fault.