{"id":12761,"date":"2016-01-29T09:01:02","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T17:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/djokovic-williams-win-australian-open-semifinals\/"},"modified":"2016-01-29T09:01:02","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T17:01:02","slug":"djokovic-williams-win-australian-open-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/djokovic-williams-win-australian-open-semifinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic, Williams win Australian Open semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia <\/strong>\u2014 Novak Djokovic called it the best he has ever played against old foe Roger Federer. Serena Williams was just being her dominant self.<\/p>\n

The defending champions both made their way back to the Australian Open final, with Djokovic beating Federer 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and Williams defeating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had matches where I\u2019ve played similar tennis,\u201d said Djokovic, the top-ranked player in the world. \u201cBut I think against Roger, these first two sets have been probably the best two sets I\u2019ve played against him overall throughout my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours earlier at Rod Laver Arena, Williams advanced to within one win of another Grand Slam milestone. If the six-time Australian Open champion wins Saturday\u2019s final against seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber, she will equal Steffi Graf\u2019s 22 major singles titles, a record in the Open era and the second-most in history behind Margaret Court\u2019s 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to do everything that I needed to do,\u201d Williams said of Thursday\u2019s match. \u201cI was really hitting just all the right shots, making little to no errors, which is kind of hard to play like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic, a five-time champion at the Australian Open, advanced to his sixth final at Melbourne Park. He\u2019ll find out who his final opponent will be after Andy Murray takes on Milos Raonic on Friday.<\/p>\n

For Federer, the signs were ominous from the beginning. Djokovic held his first service game at love and broke the 17-time Grand Slam champion in the second. After seven minutes, Federer was trailing 3-0.<\/p>\n

The first set was over in 22 minutes. Most spectators \u2014 including a woman with a sign reading: \u201cJust Married But Willing to Exchange for Federer\u201d \u2014 were behind him, applauding Djokovic\u2019s service faults and giving Federer a standing ovation when he broke to go ahead 4-2 in the third set.<\/p>\n

The end came quickly in the fourth. Djokovic broke Federer in the eighth game to go up 5-3 \u2014 not even a stunning down-the-line shot after he earlier chased down a lob on the same point could save the Swiss great.<\/p>\n

Djokovic held three match points in the next game and he clinched it when Federer netted a backhand. Djokovic, who won three Grand Slam titles last year, took a 23-22 edge in his 45 meetings with Federer.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely I\u2019ve played unbelievable the first two sets but that\u2019s what is necessary against Roger,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

Asked about the crowd support for Federer, Djokovic displayed Swiss-like diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I play Roger it\u2019s something that is expected, in a way, considering his career and his greatness on and off the court,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cHe\u2019s loved. He\u2019s appreciated. He\u2019s respected around the world. For me it\u2019s normal in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federer said he wasn\u2019t surprised by Djokovic\u2019s early blitz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen Novak play this well before,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough when it\u2019s from the start because obviously you got to try to stop the bleeding at some point. He can get one or two sets all of a sudden … and it\u2019s tough to get back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first semifinal match, Kerber ended Sydney-born British player Johanna Konta\u2019s surprising run with a 7-5, 6-2 win to reach her first Grand Slam final. Konta was the first British woman since 1983 to reach the semifinals at a major tournament.<\/p>\n

Williams is the overwhelming favorite in the final, and not just based on recent form. She continued her perfect streak in seven Australian Open semifinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely block it out,\u201d Williams said in reply to a question about equaling Graf\u2019s mark. \u201cI was one off last year, too. If I don\u2019t win on Saturday, I\u2019ll still be one off.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cPhysically I\u2019m feeling a lot better, mentally I needed that break after the Open,\u201d Williams said, but \u201cI didn\u2019t think I would do this well this fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer John Pye contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 Novak Djokovic called it the best he has ever played against old foe Roger Federer. Serena Williams was just being her dominant self. The defending champions both made their way back to the Australian Open final, with Djokovic beating Federer 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and Williams defeating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-4 on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-12761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12761"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}