Djokovic cruises to semis, Keys makes her first and more Day 10 results

Author:
Courtney Nguyen
Publish date:
Jan 28, 2015

MELBOURNE -- Catch up on all of the action from the Australian Open on Wednesday that you may have missed while you were sleeping:

All-American semifinal set between Serena Williams and Madison Keys

Madison Keys beats Venus Williams to advance to her first Slam semifinal

In two very different matches, No. 1 Serena dominated last year's finalist Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2, while 19-year-old Madison Keys battled through injury to comeback and beat No. 18 Venus Williams 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to her first Slam semifinal.

The wins set up the first All-American semifinal at a Slam since 2002 and pits two players who may not be 100 percent healthy against each other. Keys aggravated a left adductor injury in the second set of her win and will have just 24 hours to try and recover. That's a massive injury to take into the semifinals given its effect on her movement and her biggest weapon, her serve. Meanwhile, Serena told reporters through a croaky voice that she's been under the weather. The good news for Serena is that the illness doesn't seem to be affecting her play. "I've been sick the past few days," Serena said. "It's just getting worse and worse. But hopefully it will start getting better."

Stan Wawrinka routs Kei Nishikori for a spot in the semifinals

Mailbag: Wawrinka's one-hand backhand, Nick Saviano, more mail

The defending champion put down one of the best performances of the tournament in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over No. 5 Nishikori. Aside from a slight wobble in the third set tiebreak, Wawrinka was simply unplayable. He fired 20 aces and hit 46 winners to 34 unforced errors. He pinned Nishikori behind the baseline with heavy hitting, particularly from his backhand side. Nishikori was only able to muster 6 aces, 23 winners, and 31 unforced errors.

But Nishikori had a chance to make things interesting late in the tiebreaker. He fought back from 1-6 down in the breaker to get it to 6-all. But with Wawrinka getting visibly nervous, Nishikori put an ill-advised forehand drop shot into the net. Wawrinka stepped up and fired an ace to seal the win.

"I was struggling on my serve," Nishikori said. "That's why I couldn't get good rhythm first and second set. Yeah, tiebreaker was really close. If I could get that one, might change the whole thing."

Novak Djokovic cruises through Milos Raonic in straight sets

In the final match of the night, Djokovic had no trouble with No. 8 Milos Raonic, beating him 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2. Raonic couldn't find his rhythm during the match, as he won just 15 percent of serve points and did not create a single break point. He hit 34 winners and 36 unforced errors on the night, while Djokovic fired 29 winners and only 15 unforced errors. The No. 1 seed has held 52 straight times and has yet to drop a set en route to his 25th Grand Slam semifinal berth.

"There were not many tournaments where I dropped serve only once," Djokovic said after the match. "I feel like Boris Becker on the court."