Irrepressible Serena powers into Aussie semis

MELBOURNE, Australia -- An irrepressible Serena Williams kept her record-breaking Grand Slam dream alive Wednesday by beating Johanna Konta to make the Australian Open semi-final, where she will meet fellow veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

The American joined sister Venus in the last four after stepping up a level to oust the dangerous Briton 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena and end her nine-match winning streak.

Her battling victory keeps intact a potential all-Williams final, with Venus needing to get past fellow American Coco Vandeweghe in the other semi-final to set-up the nostalgic showdown.

But first Serena must beat former teenage prodigy Lucic-Baroni, who upset fifth seed Karolina Pliskova to continue her heart-warming comeback after her career was derailed by personal issues.


"She played so well, she's definitely a future champion here for sure," Williams said of ninth-seeded Konta. "I'm really happy to get through that.

"I got a little frustrated, but I told myself, stop complaining. Don't be 'Baby-rena'. I admit I complain a lot. That's my thing. I try to just have fun, and try to enjoy the moment out here."

The victory over Konta, who had been in impeccable touch heading into the match, marked an incredible 10th successive Grand Slam semi-final for Williams, and her 34th overall, reinforcing the 35-year-old's remarkable consistency.

She has refused to talk about the possibility of finally surpassing Steffi Graf to win a 23rd Grand Slam and take sole ownership of the Open-era record.

But Williams now has a real chance of doing so to further cement her place as perhaps the greatest player of all time.

If she achieves the goal of winning a seventh Australian Open, it will also propel her back to world number one, after Angelique Kerber snatched the accolade from her last year.

- Service problems -

In the first meeting between the pair, Konta showed intent by winning the opening point but Williams settled to hold serve, before the Briton served to love.

Williams was struggling with her first serve, with just one in three finding their mark in the opening encounters and she had to fend off a break point in the third game, raising her arms in the air when she finally won with an ace.

But it was Konta under pressure in the next game with Williams unloading some powerful ground strokes, forcing a backhand error from the Briton to go 3-1 in front.

Williams is known for her pounding forehand winners, but her baseline weapon had been lacking its usual punch in Melbourne, until now.

She began hitting some ferocious shots that Konta struggled to counter and the decorated American raced through the first set in 35 minutes.

Before the match, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said Williams must start moving better around the court to counter Konta's lightning fast game, and she seemed to have taken the advice to heart.

But her service game continued to cause problems with too many first serves called out, handing Konta a chance on the second and she broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set when Williams shunted a forehand wide.

But back-to-back aces on Williams' next service game helped her confidence and she broke back to level the scores at 3-3.

Konta, 25, who made the semi-finals last year in a breakthrough season, remained calm and collected but she could do nothing to stop Williams as she moved up another gear to close out the match.

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ESPN drop commentator over Venus Williams 'gorilla' remark

US broadcaster ESPN has dropped commentator Doug Adler after he compared Venus Williams to a "gorilla" at the Australian Open -- although he insisted the word he used was "guerrilla".

ESPN said Adler should have been more careful during his coverage of the seven-time Grand Slam-winner's win over Stefanie Voegele.

"During an Australian Open stream on ESPN3, Doug Adler should have been more careful in his word selection," an ESPN statement said.

"He apologised and we have removed him from his remaining assignments."

During the second-round match on Wednesday, Adler, a 59-year-old former player, said: "She (Voegele) misses a first serve and Venus is all over her.

"You see Venus move in and put the gorilla effect on. Charging."

Viewers were quick to register their distaste on social media, while tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg called it "appalling stuff".

"Horrifying that the Williams sisters remained subjected to it still in 2017," he tweeted.

A report on the ESPN website said: "Because the words gorilla and guerrilla are pronounced similarly, it's impossible to say for certain which word Adler spoke."

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Djokovic fends off Nadal-slayer Verdasco

MELBOURNE - Novak Djokovic may have cursed the draw for throwing up Fernando Verdasco as the first opponent in his Australian Open defense on Tuesday but the tough match-up against the Spanish giant-killer ultimately proved a blessing in disguise.

The Serb launched his bid for a record seventh title at Melbourne Park with an impressive 6-1 7-6(4) 6-2 win over the man who knocked Rafa Nadal out in the first round of last year's tournament.

Djokovic was forced to save five match points to beat Verdasco at the recent Qatar Open and was broken twice during a thrilling second set under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

But the second seed defended brilliantly to defuse the veteran lefthander's power game and closed out the two-hour 20-minute clash.

   
"I knew that winning the second set would be crucial because I definitely didn't want to give him wings," Djokovic told reporters after setting up a second round clash against Uzbek Denis Istomin.

"I didn't want to have him start swinging at the ball, as he knows.

"I don't know how he felt about the draw. But I personally think that I could have drawn... an easier player. But nothing is easy obviously.

"From one perspective it was good that I got to have the very tough first-round match, because it made me prepare better and kind of approach this match and the tournament with the right intensity right from the blocks, right from the first point."

Djokovic has owned Melbourne Park for almost a decade and his continued reign seemed assured as he roared to a 5-0 lead in the first set.

Verdasco felled Nadal in five sets last year by swinging at every ball and his aggression was rewarded when he broke Djokovic twice early in the second.

But he was furious with himself for letting the chances slip, cursing in Spanish and bouncing his racket off the court in disgust.

He double-faulted at 4-4 to give Djokovic two break points but saved them both before holding serve, leaving the Serb yelling out his own frustrations from his chair at the change of ends.

It took a moment of Verdasco madness to open the door, the Spaniard wafting a sliced backhand well beyond the baseline to concede two set points.

Djokovic wrapped up the tiebreak with a monster serve and sprinted away in the third set.

Beaten emphatically in a string of baseline skirmishes, Verdasco fell behind 4-1 and he threw his racket at his chair.

It felt more like a towel being tossed into a ring as there was no stopping Djokovic in full flight.

"It feels like home," said the Serb on the court where he won his sixth Australian Open title a year ago.

"Already in the last couple of weeks, I was really eager to come back to the court and get into the competitive mode, just be back in the office."

(Reporting by Ian Ransom,; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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Sizzling Serena comes back with bang

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Serena Williams exploded any doubts about her form on Tuesday as she swept into the Australian Open second round on her return to Grand Slam action.

The American, with a record 23rd major title in her sights and watched by her new fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, thumped dangerous Swiss teen Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3.

Williams has barely played since her shock defeat in the US Open semi-finals in September and she made, by one count, 88 unforced errors in her second-round loss to Madison Brengle at this month's Auckland Classic.

But she came through a tight first set against Bencic before dominating the second set in what turned out to be a convincing victory on the centre court.


"It was one of the toughest first-round matches I've ever played," said Williams, who had a 1-1 head-to-head with Bencic, 19, before Tuesday's encounter.

"Right now I've got nothing to lose. Every match, every tournament I'm playing for fun," she added.

Williams, who can break Steffi Graf's Open-era record of 22 Grand Slam titles if she wins in Melbourne for the seventh time, next faces Lucie Safarova, who had a charmed life in her win over Yanina Wickmayer.

The Czech survived nine match points before winning 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 against the flummoxed Wickmayer, who said she was feeling "definitely not good" after letting slip so many opportunities.

"It's not fun," said the Belgian, adding: "I think she served very well on certain points and other points I didn't go for enough.

"But I think it's normal when you have match point and you want to play it a little bit safe. Then after, you realise it's not the best option."

Men's world number three Milos Raonic, a semi-finalist last year, enjoyed an uncomplicated start to his campaign when he beat Germany's Dustin Brown 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

And German hotshot Alexander Zverev credited a racquet-smashing tantrum with sparking his revival as he came back to beat Robin Haase 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

"Sometimes it's good to let it out and I started to play my best tennis again after that (racquet smash) in the fourth set," Zverev said.

Women's fifth seed Karolina Pliskova, whose win over Williams at the US Open ended her 186-week stint as world number one, smashed Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2, 6-0.

And Britain's Jo Konta, riding high after her victory at last week's Sydney International, beat experienced Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-2 to reach the second round.

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Sharapova banned for 2 years by ITF

LONDON - The career of Russian former world number one Maria Sharapova was in tatters on Wednesday after she was given a two-year ban by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) following her positive test for the banned drug meldonium.

In a statement the ITF said the five-times grand slam champion's ban would be backdated to Jan. 26 this year, meaning her results and prize money from the Australian Open, where she reached the quarter-finals, would be cancelled out.

Sharapova, 29, said she would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), describing the punishment as "unfairly harsh".

She said an independent tribunal in London on May 18-19 had found that she had not intentionally violated anti-doping rules.

A 33-page report of the tribunal's findings said: "The ITF accepts that the player did not engage in conduct that she knew constituted an antidoping rule violation," but it rejected her assertion that there was no "significant" fault on her part.

"She was the sole author of her own misfortune," it said.

On its website, the ITF said the ban, which could have been as long as four years, had been backdated due to Sharapova's "prompt admission" of taking the substance, and would end on midnight of Jan. 25, 2018.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) later issued a short statement saying it would review the decision before deciding whether to use its independent right of appeal to CAS.

Sharapova has regularly battled back from serious injuries during her glittering career but the two-year ban means she will not be eligible to play until after the 2018 Australian Open when she will be 30, and raises the question of whether she will ever play again.

"If it stands, then I think it will be difficult for her to come back at the same level," the president of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, told TASS news agency, calling for the penalty to be reduced.

TIME AND RESOURCES

Meldonium was added to WADA's list of banned substances at the start of the year after mounting evidence that it boosted blood flow and enhanced athletic performance.

Around 180 athletes have tested positive for the drug, manufactured in Latvia and common throughout eastern Europe, since January.

Sharapova, the world's highest-paid female athlete, stunned the sporting world in March when she announced that she had tested positive for meldonium, a component of a product named Mildronate which she has taken since 2006 for health issues.

At the time Sharapova, the highest-profile tennis player to fail an anti-doping test, said she had made "a huge mistake" in failing to realise that continuing to take Mildronate would be a violation of the anti-doping code.

"The ITF spent tremendous amounts of time and resources trying to prove I intentionally violated the anti-doping rules and the tribunal concluded I did not," she said on Facebook.

The ITF had sought a four-year suspension but the tribunal rejected that, she said.

"While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension."

The tribunal found that Sharapova had taken Mildronate before each of her five matches at this year's Australian Open where she lost to Serena Williams.

It rejected Sharapova's argument that the ITF should have informed her that she and a number of other tennis players had tested positive for meldonium in 2015 before it was added to the banned list.

"CONCEALED"

The report also said that Sharapova had not made her use of Mildronate known to most of her team, including her coach, her trainer, her physiotherapist and her nutritionist, nor any of the doctors made available to players by the WTA.

Questioning why she continued taking Mildronate before matches, the report said: "In the tribunal's view the answer is clear. Whatever the position may have been in 2006, there was in 2016 no diagnosis and no therapeutic advice supporting the continuing use of Mildronate.

"If she had not concealed her use of Mildronate from the anti-doping authorities, members of her own support team and the doctors whom she consulted, but had sought advice, then the contravention would have been avoided," it said.

The ban will have an enormous impact on Sharapova's earning potential.

Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer cut its ties with Sharapova after the news of her doping violation while other sponsors such as Porsche distanced themselves from her.

Nike however, said on Wednesday they would continue to work with Sharapova.

"The ITF Tribunal has found that Maria did not intentionally break its rules," the sports apparel giant said in a statement. "Maria has always made her position clear, has apologised for her mistake and is now appealing the length of the ban."

Sharapova has 35 WTA singles titles and has won all four of the sport's grand slam titles.

Her career earnings amount to $36 million while her off-court earnings, according to Forbes, are around $200 million.

(Editing by Clare Fallon and Robin Pomeroy)

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