OK so its time to look at the ladies semi finals from the Australian open which will see two playrs advance to the final of the first grand slam of the year. So let's get a move on and see what happened......
Sooo the first match saw Serena Williams take on Agnieszka Radwanska in a match up that heavily favourited Serena (well not many match-ups don't!) as she had never lost to Radwanska. And the way this match went things didn't look to be about to change as Serena romped her way through the first set and clinched it with a bagel leaving her Polish opponent powerless to do anything. In the 2nd set however things were a bit more competitive as Aga managed to keeps to a single break but ultimately she was not able to stop the World No.1 securing victory and reaching her 7th Australian open final with an emphatic 6-0, 6-4 win.
Well there really wasn't much doubt about the outcome of this match given that Aga had never beaten Serena in their previous seven meetings and right enough this one proved to be no different as she simply lacks the firepower to threaten Serena. So this puts Serena in pole position for the final which kicks off on Saturday and I will look at who she might be facing next up in the second semi final.
And the 2nd semi final was between Angelique Kerber, the 7th seed and the surprise of the tournament, British No.1, Johanna Konta who had gone a superb run to reach her first ever grand slam semi final. The match itself started with some nerves from both ladies as neither of them had progressed to the final of a grand slam although Kerber had already reached two semi finals previously at Wimbledon and the US Open. So there were a couple of breaks of serve in the opening set but Kerber was the one who managed to break to win the opening set. And in the 2nd set Kerber established her authority on the match as she went on to break Konta twice and she sealed the win to reach her first grand slasm final witha 7-5, 6-2 victory.
Well this was quite an intriguing match and both players were playing for the final and neither one had made it to this stage before so there were bound to be nerves. And unfortuntately for Konta she wasn't able to complete her dream run in Melbourne but she still put up an impressive fight before Kerber overtook her in the 2nd set. But Kerber deserves all the credit for how she played and composed herself during the match's tough moments especially in the first set before she re-asserted herself in the 2nd set to get the win. Kerber has always shown the potential to be a grand slam champion and now she has just about fulfilled that potential so good on her for that and the win.
As for Jo Konta well this is the tournament that really announced her arrival on the tennis arena and it also proved that she was no flash in the pan given her good run at last year's US Open as Konta really is a player to watch out for in the future. And given her impressive run to the semis it will see her world ranking shoot up to inside the top 30 where her new ranking will be 28 in the world come Monday. And if Konta can continue her good form then there is no reason that one day she will go on to become a top 10 player. So despite her loss Konta did great and she has had a terrific tournament and I'm sure we will see more of her this year.
So that's the final set up between Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber who will battle it out for the title, and it begs the question: who will win??? Well.....let's face it, its hard to bet against Serena on this one as she has looked superb yet again throughout the tournament and has not even dropped a set going into the final. And given that Kerber has never played in a grand slam final before, it leaves her at a big disadvantage to play perhaps the greatest player to have played the ladies game.
However all hope is not necessarily lost for Kerber as she has managed to beat Serena once in Cincinnati four years so she has some idea of how to play her. And all the pressure will be on Serena as well to tie Stefi Graff's record off 22 grand slams, which is something she will be desparate to do tomorrow and in those situations there is every chance she could get tight and be the one to beat herself, which is generally what is said about Serena is the only one that beats her is herself.
But.....to be honest I don't see Kerber necessarily threaten Serena much and there is a fair chance that she will be overawed by the occassion just like her counterpart German player, Sabine Lisicki who felt the nerves when she played in the Wimbledon final three years ago who lost to Marion Bartoli. However we will just have to wait and see how things pan out for the German player but it would be great to see her upset the applecart if she can.
Which brings me onto my prediction....well I really have to go with Serena and I think it will be straight sets as I can possibly see Kerber get a bit jumpy and nervy in the first set to let Serena steamroll her way through it. However its possible Kerber might settle down into the match and if she does then she might make it a close 2nd set or possibly even push it to a 3rd. But for me I think it will be Serena in straight sets and my scoreline prediction will be 6-1, 7-6 (as usual for what its worth but I think 6-1 is generally considered to be a safe bet with Serena in any set!).
Right so that is it for the ladies and I will be back with the men's results soon.
See you's in a bit..........
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