Serena Williams advanced to her first Australian Open semifinal round in five years, but she won’t be playing sister Venus Williams on Thursday in Melbourne. Serena beat Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, on Tuesday night (Wednesday in Australia) to reach the semifinals Down Under for the first time since winning the tournament in 2010.
Serena Williams advances to 2015 Australian Open semifinal, will face Madison Keys
Venus Williams fell in three sets to Madison Keys on Wednesday in Australia, while sister Serena Williams beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the 2015 Australian Open.
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Williams on Wednesday night (Eastern time) will face 19-year-old American Madison Keys, who beat Venus Williams 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Tuesday, ending the 34-year-old Williams’ improbable run deep into the tournament. Venus reached the quarterfinals, her best grand slam showing since falling in the semifinal round of the 2010 U.S. Open. This was just her second grand slam trip past the third round since the start of 2011.
“Losses like this are good. Even though they’re not fun,” Venus Williams said after the loss. “I’ll learn from it.”
Had Venus bested Keys, Thursday’s semifinal match would have been the 26th head-to-head matchup between the Williams sisters, and the first since the 2008 U.S. Open quarterfinals, won by Serena in two sets.
Serena Williams, a five-time winner of the Australian Open and 18-time grand slam champion, has never faced Keys. Williams is 62-9 all-time at the Australian Open, while Keys is 8-3. Both have dropped only two sets in five rounds so far in Melbourne.
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