Serena Williams broke her run of slow starts at the Australian Open on Wednesday to hammer Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-2 and set up an all-American semi-final against teenager Madison Keys.
An injury-hampered Keys dug deep to beat Williams’ older sister Venus in three sets earlier in the day, but Serena was in no mood for a contest as she broke the Slovakian 11th seed twice in each set and gave her nothing on serve.
Williams closed out the match when last year’s finalist Cibulkova clubbed a return past the baseline and the American grinned broadly as she smiled and waved at the Rod Laver Arena crowd on a sunny, breezy day.
Top seed Williams will head into the semi-final fresh after her one-hour five-minute rout as she bids to win her first title at Melbourne Park since 2010.
“She’s playing great. I told her I was really happy that she did well,” Williams told reporters of Keys.
“She’s in the semis. It’s good to see another American, another African American, in the semi-finals playing so well.
“Regardless, there’s going to be an American in the finals, so that is great.
Serena Williams broke her run of slow starts at the Australian Open to hammer Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-2 in their quarter final.
“It’s also great for me and Venus because we know that finally there’s other Americans that are constantly playing well and playing better, showing that they want to be the world’s greatest.
“For sure I’ll ask (Venus). (I will) also ask my coach, who has been steering me these last two weeks. I’m really excited to be in the semis.”
Keys will have American three-time grand slam champion Lindsay Davenport helping her prepare for the semi-final.
“I think Lindsay and Madison have done really well together. Obviously, this is her first semi-finals,” she said.
“I’m sure there’s going to be many more, including grand slam wins, for Madison … And I think they really just make a good team. Really, nice, easy-going people.”