Watch Serena Williams Request An Apology From A Reporter

Despite the temperature already past 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) when they began at 11:00am, Williams opted to wear knee-length black leggings and sleeves, and she made a slow start. I think she has no doubt at the moment. “I saw that she believed she could beat anyone”.

It was an all-round performance from the British player, who will not have it easy in the next round as she will face Serena in the quarterfinals. Don’t be “Baby-rena”. I admit I complain a lot.

It’s the second time in the last two years that three women in their 30s have reached the semifinals at a major: Venus Williams, 36, Serena Williams, 35, and Lucic-Baroni, 34.

Konta has been ruthless through four rounds, knocking out former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and 2015 semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova en route to her second straight quarterfinal in Melbourne. “It did not seem like a 6-2, 6-3 score at all”.

She had 23 unforced errors in the first set and needed eight set points to clinch it. She’s played seven tournaments without winning a title, only reached one final, and was 5-7 against top-50 players.

“I think it’s about playing, me going out there and doing what I want to do against her, and it will be about just staying focused on that”.

“It will be an incredible honour and I can’t wait”. “Today I felt I can do this, it is such a great opportunity for me”, the world number two added. Serena clinched the second set to clinch the match in one hour 45 minutes.

Sergiy Stakhovsky said something similar after upsetting Roger Federer at Wimbledon in the second round of Wimbledon. Sometimes you got to say, “well played”. Williams’ forehands were giving her problems, and she would have gone back out on the practice court to make sure they are firing against Konta. But she hasn’t lost a set en route to the quarterfinals this year.

It had lasted 38 minutes, so this was no walkover. Andy Murray allowed a similar call to stand in the late stages of his defeat by Mischa Zverev, although that was pretty much a shot fox by then.

Zverev attacked Murray, unsettling his natural baseline game, and won 65 of 118 points at the net. “It was a bad day for her”.

Williams said of Konta: “I have watched her game a lot”.

Konta jumped out to a 3-1 advantage, but it would short-lived. It was like a high-stakes poker game.

Each of the first four games of the match resulted in a break of serve, and Strycova took the lead again with a third break before Williams responded. I believe in my own ability.

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni is coming off a three set win over Karolina Pliskova that took 29 games to decide.

Williams started the tournament with hard assignments in the first two rounds, but also got through those – against Belinda Bencic, with a career-high ranking of 7, and Lucie Safarova, a French Open finalist in 2015 – without dropping a set.