Serena teaches Konta a lesson

JOHANNA KONTA found Serena Williams a step too far at the Australian Open as the British No 1 was beaten 6-2, 6-3, in the quarter-finals.

Konta arrived on Rod Laver Arena as the form player but she barely laid a finger on the American, who cruised to victory in 75 minutes to set up a meeting with Croatia’s surprise semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Many considered Konta a genuine threat to Williams, given the Briton had not conceded a single set en route to the last eight and came in on the back of nine consecutive victories.

She had chances, at the start of the first set when her opponent’s serve was misfiring and early in the second when she led by a break and 3-1.

Williams, however, always looked at ease with her opponent’s aggressive baseline game and another upset in a topsy-turvy tournament never looked on the cards.

“She’s been playing so well,” Williams said. “She won Sydney, she’s been cleaning up her matches. I’ve been in the locker room watching her win, I’ve been like, ‘Gosh she’s doing so well’.

“She’s a future champion here for sure so I’m pleased to get through.”

On hearing that, Konta said: “That’s nice, I will do my best. I think it was probably one of the best experiences of my life.

“I think there’s so many things I can learn from that, so many things I can look to improve on, and also acknowledge some things I did well.

“I think, credit to her, she played an almost perfect first set. She showed why she is who she is.”

In the men’s event, Rafael Nadal reached a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time in three years after dispatching third seed Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.

His reward is a clash with Grigor Dimitrov, who had overcome David Goffin 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

In the wheelchair singles, defending champion Gordon Reid fell at the first hurdle, losing to last year’s runner-up Joachim Gerard 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.