Venus Williams to meet Coco Vandeweghe in Australian Open semi-final
Tuesday 24 January 2017 15:20, UK
Venus Williams remains on course for a first Grand Slam singles final since 2009 after a 6-4 7-6 quarter-final win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Australian Open.
The 36-year-old has rolled back the years in Melbourne and was at it again on Tuesday to seal a straight sets triumph over the Russian 24th seed.
Victory sees her through to an all-American semi-final against Coco Vandeweghe and still on course for a possible final showdown with sister Serena.
After beating reigning champion and top seed Angelique Kerber in round four, Vandeweghe added to her growing list of scalps with a 6-4 6-0 success over French Open champion and seventh seed Garbine Muguruza to reach her first-ever singles semi-final.
It has had to be quite a story to detract from Vandeweghe's achievements and Williams, the oldest woman left in the singles tournament, has provided that with her run to the last four.
Williams reached the semi-final stage at Wimbledon last year but that is her only appearance in the final four of a major since 2010, and her win over Pavlyuchenkova means she is through to the Australian Open semi-final for the first time in 14 years.
On that occasion she was beaten by Serena and with the pair in opposite sides of the draw, an all-Williams Grand Slam final remains a possibility for the first time since 2009.
The signs have been there for Williams, and after the run to the semis at the All England Club she has now reached this stage in two of her last three Grand Slam events.
The Australian Open is one of two Grand Slam tournaments she has never won having claimed five Wimbledon titles and two US Open crowns and her run has even left her surprised.
"I'm so excited. Today was such a hard-fought match, she never let up. We've always had these quality matches and I knew today would be nothing less," she said.
"It's wonderful to be here to start the year out - I want to go further, I'm not happy with this, but I'm so happy to be in a position to go further.
"It wasn't the easiest start to the year. I had so much anxiety going into this one so to be standing here with an opportunity to go further, it's like, 'Oh my god'."
Standing on the opposite side of the court to Williams later this week will be Vandeweghe who has now seen off three of the top 15 seeds (Kerber, Muguruza and Roberta Vinci) as well as Euguenie Bouchard in a fine run.
The 25-year-old is more known for her doubles prowess having twice been a Grand Slam runner-up in the mixed event last year, including in Melbourne.
Her meeting with Muguruza was only the second time she has reached a major singles quarter-final and she was imperious in blowing away her Spanish opponent.
Vandeweghe took control from the seventh game of the match when she struck with her first break of serve and having taken just under an hour to win the first set, she rattled through the second by reeling off six successive games in just 27 minutes.
"I really wasn't feeling that great out there funnily enough. I was actually quite nervous," said Vandeweghe.
"I just tried to play my best, stay within myself and keep my patterns. She fought through a few break points but I kept up the pressure and she finally cracked.
"Then once I got rolling in the second it was like a freight train and (she) couldn't stop it."
In Wednesday's quarter-finals Serena Williams will face British number one Johanna Konta, while fifth seed Karolina Pliskova meets Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Check previews, reports and live blogs from Jo Konta's matches at the Australian Open by following us on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis.
By purchasing a Sky Sports Day Pass for £6.99 or Sky Sports Week Pass for £10.99, you can enjoy access to all seven Sky Sports channels and watch on a TV with a NOW TV Box or on a range of devices.
