OK so we now I'm onto Part 5 of my look at the Australian open this year and I will cover days 9 and 10 of the ladies action in this post, so let's look at how the matches went as the ladies quarter finals got underway to decide the final four in Melbourne.
So starting with Day 9 we first up had Simona Halep, the No.3 seed take on the Russian player, Ekaterina Makarova, who has always been something of a dark horse in the slams and quite often slips underneath the radar and has also played very well in them over the last couple of years. Naturally going into this match however Halep was the top favourite to win it and one of the heavy favs for the title, but Makarova yet again showed her skills and form as a player as she took the opening set with a break. In the 2nd set however Makarova outplayed Halep as the Romanian had no answers to the Russian and before she knew it Makarova handed Halep a tasty bagel of a set and in doing sealed her place in his first semi final in Melbourne with an emphatic 6-4, 6-0 victory. This really was quite a surprise result given that Makarova is not a high profile player as the other top 10 players, perhaps this is because she is also a great doubles player aswell you don't immediately associate her with one or the other. Still Makarova has done great to get this far in Melbourne and she might stand a chance of going even further, but that would all depend on the her next opponent.
And this was Mara Sharapova who took on the Canadian rising star, Eugenie Bouchard in the second quarter final, which promised to be quite a tough encounter. However in the end it was experience over age that count as Maria dominated the young Canadian right from the start and broke her to take the opening set. And in the 2nd set there was little more resistance from Bouchard as the mighty Pova powered her way through the young Canadian to land her place in the semi finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win. Despite the billing there was no real doubt who would have won this match but it was a bit disappointing that it turned to be so one-sided in the end given that Bouchard is quite a tough competitor. But Sharapova is the ultimate warrior in ladies tennis and in the end she had all the answers and proved too strong for Bouchard and she looks to be pole position to reach final as she will next face Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the final. And Maria has never lost to Makarova so that straight away makes her the favourite to win this match unless Makarova can come up with something really special, so I think for me it will be Maria who will win and make it through to her 4th Australian open final.
Now we get onto day 10 which saw the remaining quarter final matches being played and the action kicked off with Venus Williams, who had made it into her first grand slam quarter final in five years, take on the young rising American star, Madison Keys. Venus made the better start as expected as she broke Keys to take the opening set, but Keys with her powerful ball striking fought her way back into the match and got her own break to level the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set despite Venus being a break up, Keys soon fought back to level and soon went on to pull off a big upset as the teenager beat Venus to land her first ever grand slam semi final with a remarkable 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. This was quite a turnaround but in a way it was to be expected that one of the Williams sisters might be a casualty in one of these tournaments as it is very rare they tend to be play one another on the tour. As for Madison Keys well it was a hugely impressive effort for her to have reached the quarter finals and to make it to the last four is even more so. However Keys has one more stern opponent in her path who would be the winner of this next match.
And the second semi final was between Serena Williams and last year's finalist, Dominika Cibulkova and this was another match where the World No.1 started off the heavy favourite over Cibulkova as the pint sized Slovak player had never beaten Serena before. And this match turned out to be no different as right from the get go Serena was too good and too strong for Cibulkova who could do nothing against her powerful game and first class serve and she sped to victory in straight sets to the last four to win in 6-2, 6-2. Well now that Serena Williams is in the last four I really think she remains on course to be the top favourite to win the title on Saturday. But one feisty teenager still stands in her way in the semi finals, Madison Keys who will give Serena something to think about no doubt if she get can her powerful game into play. But despite Keys best efforts I think Serena's experience will see her through this one and I think that just maybe Keys might land a set but she won't able to beat Serena and no doubt the World No.1 should be in the final.
So that's the ladies semi finals set between Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova and Serena Williams and Madison Keys and they promise to be fun, but hopefully the Serena and Keys match will be the one to watch.
Right so I'll be back soon with the men's matches.
See you in a bit.
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