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Serena Williams Faces Maria Sharapova In Australian Open Final
01.25.07 MELBOURNE -- Wednesday night USA time, Serena Williams defeated the 10th seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic in the
Australian Open semifinals 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to advance to the women's final match to be played Friday night USA time. In the final Serena will
face the top seed and world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia.
Head to head Serena is tied with Maria 2-2 and won their last match right here in
Melbourne in the semifinals after saving a matchpoint two years ago 2-6 7-5 8-6 in a thriller of a match. As I remember Maria and Serena both
were striking the ball extremely hard, but Serena mixed in some net play and loops to win. After the win, Serena engaged in a huge jumping
up and down over and over. The bad news is Maria is playing better than she was two years ago, while Serena is not playing as consistent as
she was back then. All in all I think Serena's 85% is better than most's 100% so I'm picking Serena to beat Maria in three sets as I did before
the tournament started. FULL REPORT
Serena Williams Overcomes Peer Pressure
01.23.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena has defeated Shahar Peer 3-6, 6-2, 8-6 after leading 4-1 in set three. Peer was running down
almost everything but Serena
was able to pull out some key aces (11 total) near the end plus some major groundstrokes winners. (30 total winners.) Serena: "I wasn't playing
my best tennis..I'm the ultimate competitor." Serena plays Nicole Vaidisova in the semifinals Wednesday night USA time. Williams has never
played Vaidisova before. Vaidisova is a major big baseline hitter and big server and plays a lot like Serena's sister Venus Williams. Could be a
catfight Wednesday night. Hopefully Serena will be feeling better from her cold and foot blister. She will need to bring out some of her best tennis to
stop Nicole, but I think she will.
Relive the Peer match play by exciting play! Relive it!
Serena Williams Into Australian Open Quarterfinals
01.22.07 MELBOURNE -- It's week two of the Australian Open and not many people other than serenaforever.com thought Serena
Williams would still be here. Serena plays the second match tonight (USA time) on the Laver Arena at we estimate 7:45pm CST USA. So Tivo/VCR
Prisonbreak/Heros/24 and get ready. Hopefully ESPN2 will decide to show the match live. If not you can watch it on the internet live. The link is
in here.
Go through the thread to find it. "Bynx" posted it. Back to the match, Peer is only 19 years old and I think Serena will overwhelm her with her aggressive
game. More match up information is below.
Serena Williams' "Impossible" Australian Open Continues
01.21.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena Williams' "Impossible" Australian Open continues as she defeated "favorite" Jelena Jankovic
6-3, 6-2 tonight in the round of sixteen hitting 8 aces, 31 winners to 28 errors. Williams broke Jankovic's serve four times. Jankovic
fought hard but was unable to derail Serena's mix of power and precision. And as if she needed it, Serena Williams' draw became "easier"
tonight as "favorties" Amelie Mauresmo and Svetlana Kuznetsova both lost. In the quarterfinals Serena plays Shahar Peer of Israel. Head to
head Serena leads Peer 1-0, winning in Miami 2005 6-3, 6-3.
Mission Impossible: Can Serena Stop Red Hot Jankovic?
01.20.07 MELBOURNE -- Impossible? Nothing's impossible and Serena Williams will need to do almost that as tonight 9:30pm
CST USA (Estimated Time) at the Australian Open round of sixteen she (5-1) faces red hot Jelena Jankovic who is 12-1 this year and
who won her last match not only against Serena but also against her sister Venus Williams at Wimbledon last year. The Venus camp
revealed Venus had wrist pain, but still it is not easy to beat Venus Williams when she is serving 125mph serves like nothing. Matchup
info is below, but really that does not mean a lot in this match. Both play a big babe baseline game. Serena will need to simply out play
Jelena. If Serena can hit more winners than errors she has a good chance to advance to the quarterfinals. Keep a lookout for nerves from
either player.
01.19.07 MELBOURNE -- Thursday night USA time at the Australian Open in round three, Serena Williams staged a remarkable comeback
from 1-6, 3-5 to defeat 5th seeded Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours and 5 minutes. This was Serena's first win versus a top 10 player in 2
years mostly due to Serena's recent knee injury which has kept her off the court. Williams started the match hitting extremely hard and then
in sets two and three, she cleaned up her errors while slamming a 125mph serve to win. In round four Saturday night USA time, Williams faces
red hot Jelena Jankovic of Serbia who defeated Serena in their last meeting last year 6-4, 6-3 and is one of a handful of players with a winning
head to head versus Serena (2-1). Serena will need to be aggressive and eliminate her errors in order to win. Jankovic plays a similar baseline
game as Serena, but not as powerful. Some Hope For Williams Fans: In those two "wins," Serena had to quit in the first one injured at 0-6, 3-4.
Serena lost the second one after winning two long 3 sets matches that week in Los Angeles (without a day off) so Serena will have a day's rest
this time versus Jelena. (You can use this also as material to argue with "Serena haters." LOL)
01.18.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena Williams has her work cut out for her tonight USA Time (6pm CST) as she faces sixth ranked Russian
Nadia Petrova. More matchup information is below. And wouldn't you know it, ESPN/ESPN2 is not scheduled to show the match live. But
believe Serena fans will be watching it on the internet and following the live scores online.
01.17.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena Williams Wednesday at the Australian Open defeated Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. Serena
had a slow start and went down 2-4 in set one before rebounding to win set one and race to a 4-0 set two lead. In the third round Williams faces
sixth ranked Nadia Petrova of Russia in what should be a tough match. Head to head Serena leads 5-1, but in their last meeting at the 2005
Australian Open, Serena struggled to win 6-1 3-6 6-3.
01.16.07 MELBOURNE -- At the Australian Open, Serena Williams plays her second round match tonight as the third match at 10:00pm CST
USA time (estimated) with the first match starting at 6:00pm CST USA on the Vodafone Arena. Williams faces Anne Kremer. See below for more
matchup information.
01.15.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena Williams early Monday USA time defeated Mara Santangelo of Italy 6-2, 6-1 in round one of the Australian
Open in one hour and 14 minutes. Williams, who hit 10 aces and 25 winners to 14 errors next faces Anne Kremer of Luxembourg Wednesday in
round two. Williams has never played Kremer, who is ranked 146 before.
01.12.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena Williams opens the night session at the Rod Laver Arena at 7.30pm local time Monday which is 2.30am CST
USA. Williams takes on Mara Santangelo of Italy. Serena should win easily this match.
01.12.07 MELBOURNE -- Serena Williams' knee injury forced her off the WTA Tour for months making her ranking fall to 93 which means she
is unseeded at next week's Australian Open. But Serena got a good draw; not drawing any top player in the first few rounds. Williams does
face a seed in round one, but she should be able to easily get past 27th seeded Mara Santangelo of Italy.
01.10.07 HOBART -- A shock today as Serena Williams has lost to unknown Sybille Bammer of Austria 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the Hobart
quarterfinals. Williams powered towards a first set win before dropping her serve eight times and hitting four doublefaults to lose in
2 hours and 19 minutes. Williams was able to save one matchpoint before losing the match on matchpoint two.
Hobart: Gallery
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1.09.07 HOBART --
In round two at the Moorilla Hobart International, Serena Wiliams defeated Lucia Safarova of the Czch Republic
6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7-5) Tuesday (Monday night USA time) hitting 10 aces. Monday Serena Williams
defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in a round one night
match 6-4, 6-0 in her first match of the year. In the quarterfinals Wednesday (2am CST USA), Serena faces Sybille Bammer
of Austria who is a 26 year old left-hander with a two-handed backhand. Williams has never played Bammer before.
This tournament is Serena's only warmup tournament for the Australian Open.
Serena Williams News January 2007
