Serbia's Jelena Jankovic celebrates after beating Serena Williams of the United States during their women's singles quarter-final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. - AP
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):
Maria Sharapova was ready to play three or four hours but didn't need to. Serena Williams did and ended up with two losses to show for it.
Fifth-ranked Sharapova ended No. 1 Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak 6-4, 6-0 yesterday to advance to the Australian Open semi-finals for the fourth straight year.
Williams, who beat Sharapova in last year's final, was ousted 6-3, 6-4 by Jelena Jankovic, then teamed with sister Venus to lose their women's doubles match - spending a total of 3-1/2 hours on court.
Sharapova was beaten by Henin at the season-ending championships in Madrid two months ago in one of the longest-ever women's tour matches - 3 hours and 24 minutes - and had a 2-6 record against the Belgian.
"I came into the match really prepared to play a three-to four-hour match,'' Sharapova said.
Hot on a cool night
Instead, she came out hot on a cool night, constantly putting pressure on Henin and refusing to wilt when things got tight.
"It's just incredible," Sharapova said. "I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do. I had to be aggressive. When I'm playing well, that's what I do. I want to be the one that's forcing their errors. I did a really good job of that today.''
She was looking forward to taking on Jankovic.
"We kind of grew up together, practicing at the same academy," Sharapova said. "It's a bit strange. We were always doing the same thing, playing the same groups. It was both of our dreams playing in a Grand Slam, especially playing each other. We've always played really tough and we've always battled it out.''
With little going right for Henin, who won the French Open and U.S. Open titles after missing the Australian Open last year, Sharapova rushed through the second set, ripping 15 winners to only five unforced errors.
"I knew she was in top form and I knew it was going to be tough, so I was ready to fight and give my best, but it wasn't good enough," Henin said.
It was the first time that Henin had lost a set 6-0 since she was beaten in the first round at the 2002 French Open 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 by Aniko Kapros, a qualifier from Hungary.
Now she'll have to try to start a new winning streak.
"It's very hard to be at your best level all the time and I'll have to think about that and build again for the future,'' Henin said.
On the men's side, second-ranked Rafael Nadal had a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 24 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, making the semi-finals for the first time in four trips to the Australian Open.
"Maybe I wasn't playing my best match, my best tennis today, but it was enough," Nadal said. "It's a good moment for me, first semi-finals on hard court, Grand Slam.''
The only player to beat Roger Federer in the last 10 Grand Slam tournaments, Nadal will face unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the biggest surprise of the tournament so far, who ousted No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-0, 7-6 (6).
Tsonga, ranked 38th, is playing in only his fifth Grand Slam tournament - partly due to a rash of injuries - and had never gotten past the fourth round before.
"It's just amazing. I played just unbelievable,'' the ebullient Tsonga said. "I tried to relax. It's a very big event. It's very difficult to stay on this world."
Not an upset
Jankovic was seeded third and Williams seventh, so on paper, her victory wasn't an upset. But as well as Jankovic has been in rising through the rankings, she has never reached the final of a Grand Slam, while Williams seemed to be close to the form that she once used to dominate women's tennis.
Suddenly, stunningly, gone were Williams' chances of defending her title. Gone were images of her spryly sprinting on the court in her first four matches, clearly leaner and fitter than last year, raising questions whether anyone could beat her.
Instead, the last memories will be of Williams struggling, of smashing her racket - bashing it twice when, like on so many points this day, she just didn't put enough power into the spike to finish it off the first time.
"My shots just weren't right," Williams said. "I didn't move the way I traditionally want to move and I wasn't feeling 100 per cent. But as an athlete, you know not every day you're going to feel 100 per cent and some days you have to win feeling 30 per cent.
"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses,'' she added, refusing to specify what was wrong with her physically. "I lost because Jelena played better than me and I made too many errors. I think regardless, the match was on my racket and I gave it away.''
Williams beat Jankovic in the fourth round here last year and there was little cause to think this would be any different, especially with the Serbian woman still not completely recovered from a thigh injury suffered shortly before the tournament began.
"Getting revenge, it feels so good,'' Jankovic said. "I'm like a wounded animal. I still keep going.
"It was an unbelievable match. I am still shaking. I came out very strong and I was going for my shots. Especially my backhand down the line was working unbelievably and that's how I hurt my opponent.''
