{"id":69678,"date":"2016-01-28T04:14:09","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T09:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=69678"},"modified":"2016-01-28T04:14:10","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T09:14:10","slug":"williams-within-1-win-of-7th-australian-open-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/01\/28\/williams-within-1-win-of-7th-australian-open-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Williams within 1 win of 7th Australian Open title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Serena<\/a>
Serena Williams (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MELBOURNE, Australia – Serena Williams is one win away from another Grand Slam milestone after beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 in an Australian Open semifinal that was almost a non-contest between the players who’ll be Nos. 1 and 3 in next week’s women’s rankings.<\/p>\n

If Williams wins Saturday’s final against No. 7-seeded Angelique Kerber, she’ll equal Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam singles title, a record in the Open era, and the second-most in history behind Margaret Court’s 24.<\/p>\n

Williams is the overwhelming favourite, and not just based on recent form. She’s won all six finals she’s contested at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

“I definitely block it out,” Williams replied to a question about equaling Graf’s mark. “I was one off last year, too!”<\/p>\n

“If I don’t win on Saturday, I’ll still be one off.”<\/p>\n

Despite all her success, it is a loss that is inspiring Williams in this tournament. She was two wins away from a calendar-year Grand Slam in 2015 when she lost to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals.<\/p>\n

“Physically I’m feeling a lot better, mentally I needed that break after the Open,” she said, but “I didn’t think I would do this well this fast.”<\/p>\n

“I’m really excited to be in the final it just kind of blows my mind right now.”<\/p>\n

Kerber ended Sydney-born British player Johanna Konta’s surprising run with a 7-5, 6-2 semifinal win to reach her first Grand Slam final. She has one win in six matches against Williams back in 2012.<\/p>\n

Graf was the last German player to win the women’s title in Australia, in 1994, and Kerber is asking for some advice.<\/p>\n

“So Steffi, write me please,” she said, laughing with the crowd on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

Williams’ win over fourth-seeded Radwanska provided another reminder of her dominance in the women’s game.<\/p>\n

The first set was over in 20 minutes. Williams hit 18 winners and Radwanska, in her fifth major semifinal, had one in the fourth game.<\/p>\n

The second set was closer, with Radwanska holding serve three times and breaking Serena’s powerful serve once. But the 34-year-old Williams lifted again to finish it off, winning the last eight points and closing with three aces and a big forehand winner.<\/p>\n

Williams remains unbeaten in nine matches against Radwanska, whom she beat in the 2012 Wimbledon final.<\/p>\n

Radwanksa said there will little she could do in the first set to combat Williams, “she started unbelievable, with such a power and speed. I was just standing there kind of watching her playing.”<\/p>\n

“I had my little chance in second set, especially when it was 4-all,” she said, “But otherwise just too good.”<\/p>\n

“You know, if she’s playing her game, it’s a different level … I don’t think anyone (else) can really play on that level.”<\/p>\n

With the roof on Rod Laver Arena closed because of a thunderstorm closing in, the most obvious noise in the first set was the chirping of trapped birds who’d taken shelter in the stadium.<\/p>\n

The chirping intensified as Williams served in the sixth game of the second set, and she looked up angrily after her off-balance forehand from the baseline conceding her only service break of the match.<\/p>\n

Williams finished with eight aces all in the second set and has lost only 26 games in six rounds in a dominating run that included a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 5 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, a rematch of the 2015 final.<\/p>\n

Jamie Murray and Brazil’s Bruno Soares are through to the men’s doubles final after a 6-3, 6-1 win over the French team of Adrian Mannarino and Lucas Pouille.<\/p>\n

The first men’s semifinal between defending champion Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will open the night session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia – Serena Williams is one win away from another Grand Slam milestone after beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":69679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[9230],"class_list":["post-69678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-uploads","mauthors-john-pye","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}