Fri, Jan 30, 2015 page20

• Hsieh through to mixed doubles semis

  EASY DAY’S WORK: Hsieh and Pablo Cuevas needed only 49 minutes to beat Katarina Srebotnik and Marcelo Melo. Sharapova, Williams and Murray made the singles finals

  • By Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AFP and Reuters, MELBOURNE, Australia
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  Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay cruised into the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open yesterday with a straight-sets victory over the second seeds at Melbourne Park.

  The unseeded duo took just 49 minutes to notch a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil at Margaret Court Arena.

  Hsieh and Cuevas saved seven of nine break-point chances created by the No. 2 seeds, while converting six of their 11 opportunites to complete the quarter-final victory in double-quick time.

  

  Maria Sharapova of Russia returns to Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in their women’s singles Australian Open semi-final match in Melbourne yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  The victors hit 25 winners, compared with their opponents’ 16, to set up a semi-final today at midday Taiwan time against seventh seeds Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India at Rod Laver Arena.

  Former world No. 1 Hingis and Paes defeated fourth seeds Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic and Alexander Peya of Austria 6-3, 6-1 in their quarter-final on Wednesday.

  Today’s other semi-final sees top seeds Sania Mirza of India, Hsieh’s partner in the women’s doubles, and Bruno Soares of Brazil take on third seeds Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada at Margaret Court Arena.

  

  Britain’s Andy Murray celebrates winning his men’s singles semi-final match against the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych on day 11 of the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  Hsieh’s semi-final forms the first match of a Taiwanese takeover of Rod Laver Arena this afternoon as it is followed by the final of the women’s doubles, which sees 14th seeds Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan and Zheng Jie of China take on unseeded pairing Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

  In the women’s singles, Serena Williams battled past a gallant Madison Keys to set up a dream Australian Open final between the top two seeds after archrival Maria Sharapova demolished Ekaterina Makarova, while in the men’s, Andy Murray overcame a blistering start from Tomas Berdych to advance to his fourth Australian Open final with a 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory.

  The best two female players in the world have a long history and the odds are stacked in Williams’ favor ahead of the Melbourne Park decider tomorrow, with the American holding a major psychological advantage.

  She has a 16-2 record against Sharapova, with the Russian five-time Grand Slam champion losing their every encounter since 2004.

  Despite the ominous statistic, Sharapova has been in outstanding touch and blew away fellow Russian Makarova 6-3, 6-2 on a blustery afternoon on Rod Laver Arena.

  She is now in her fourth Australian final, having won in 2008.

  Williams was made to work harder by rising American teen Keys, who fought to the end, saving eight match points.

  Coached by former US great Lindsay Davenport, Keys forced Williams to a first set tiebreak before her illustrious opponent took charge to win 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.

  “I was just happy to get through it today,” Williams said. “My theory now is to relax and just play the next match as best I can.”

  In reaching the final at 33, she became the oldest player to make the Australian Open decider in the Open Era, surpassing Chris Evert.

  It also ensured that she keeps the No. 1 ranking she has held for more than 100 weeks. Sharapova could have claimed the accolade if she had won the title and Williams had failed to make the final.

  In another warning sign for Sharapova, her rival has won all five of the previous finals she has made in Melbourne. Williams is now in her 23rd major final, and has claimed 18 of them.

  The Russian is undaunted and said her confidence was high.

  “I think my confidence should be pretty high going into a final of a Grand Slam no matter who I’m facing and whether I’ve had a terrible record, to say the least, against someone,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot. I will do everything I can to get the title.”

  Murray will meet either top seed Novak Djokovic or defending champion Stan Wawrinka, who play their semi-final on Friday, for the title.

  It is Murray’s first Grand Slam final since he beat Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2013, and eighth of his career.

  “I was obviously disappointed to lose the first set,” Murray said in a courtside interview. “But I started to feel better and stick to my game and I was more aggressive in the second set. I was trying to get him running more, which was important because I needed to change the momentum.”

  The 29-year-old Berdych had ended a 17-match losing streak against third seed Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals and looked in a hurry against Murray to reach his second Grand Slam final.
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