By Erik Gudris / Thursday, January 2, 2014

 

Serena Williams will next face a familiar foe in Maria Sharapova. Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Jankovic both battled their way with three-set wins into the semis of Brisbane.

Photo Credit: AP

It is a new year, but the old question remains. Can anyone stop Serena Williams?

That will be what those players left at the Brisbane International will try to answer this week as the top four seeds advanced into the semifinals. The world No. 1 herself looked almost impervious as she took on No. 9 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals.

Williams lost zero points on her serve in the first set as she rolled to take it 6-3.

But despite Williams opening the second set with an early break, Cibulkova did not go away without a fight. The Slovakian earned a break point against Williams down 2-3. But Williams swatted it away with a massive serve and soon held for 4-2.

Running away with eight of the last nine points down the stretch, Williams closed out the 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Next up for Williams is a familiar foe in No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova. The Russian found herself trying to find her range early on against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi whose heavy hitting and clutch serving frustrated Sharapova. Kanepi closed out the opening set 6-4.

Sharapova soon got her game going and went on to take the next two sets and the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Sharapova, now coached by Sven Groeneveld, will try to find the answer as to how beat Williams, who has not lost to the Russian in nearly a decade.

When asked why she has dominated Sharapova, Williams herself didn't know the answer. “I don’t know. We have some good matches, so I’m not quite sure,” Williams said.

For her part, Sharapova could only look at the positives from her losing efforts in the past and hoped it would provide the key for Friday's semi. “Some of the matches were a bit closer than others. It’s tough to take away all of it. When you go out on the court in a new time, you can’t really rely on everything that happened in the past. You got to start from scratch from the first point," Sharapova said to the event's website.

Azarenka and Jankovic Collide in Semis

Both Victoria Azarenka and Jelena Jankovic needed three sets in their respective quarterfinals to book their anticipated showdown on Friday.

No. 2 seed Azarenka went up against unseeded Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland. After Azarenka took the first set and held eight match points in the second, the match looked hers for the taking. But the reigning Australian Open champion couldn't close it out and soon found herself in a third set.

Azarenka snapped back into front and eventually wrapped up the 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-1 win.

“I think my opponent really played well on the match points. Should I have done better? Yeah, I think so. I probably should have closed it out early,” Azarenka said.

No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic will be the next test for Azarenka. Jankovic herself had to dig deep after dropping the opening set to No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber. Jankovic came back and soon ran away with the 6-7(8) 6-3, 6-1 win.