The 2016 Australian Open continued on Tuesday, Day 9 from Melbourne Park. Rod Laver Arena featured four singles matches, none of which produced an upset nor even a competitive match. Agnieszka Radwanska, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic are all into the semifinals in Melbourne after what was a fairly boring day in the tournament.
Only one of the matches played featured a tiebreaker, and none of the matches saw anything but the minimum number of sets played. The Order of Play started with Radwanska defeating Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. The win for Radwanska marks her second trip to the Aussie semifinals and the fifth time that she has won her quarter in a major overall.
Williams followed suit with a crushing 6-4, 6-1 win over Maria Sharapova. The match only hung in the balance after the opening two games as Sharapova took a 2-0 lead in the first set. After that point, Williams won 12 of the last 15 games to continue her dominance over the Russian.
Radwanska and Williams are now the sole survivors on the top half of the draw. With a lack of parity in the women’s game at the moment, it is hard to picture Williams yielding a spot in the final to Radwanska. The Polish player, who has just one Grand Slam semifinal victory to her credit, has no career wins over Williams in eight previous matches.
The opposite side of the draw still needs to have the quarterfinals settled, something that will happen on Wednesday. Then the women’s semifinals will play on Thursday with a Saturday final most likely to feature Williams against Victoria Azarenka.
Roger Federer played in the third match of the day in Rod Laver Arena. The first set was close as he took on Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. However, there has been nothing wrong with Federer’s form through five rounds at this year’s Aussie and Berdych was unable to keep Federer on the court for a fourth set. The Swiss Maestro looked to be on championship form as he rattled off a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Djokovic opened the evening session as he defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. The effort for Nishikori really has to be called disappointing as he appeared to be poised to put together a competitive match against the World No. 1. Djokovic will now face Federer in a Friday match with the two other quarterfinals to run on Tuesday. While Djokovic will probably be favored, the affair promises to be a blockbuster one given Djokovic’s history at the event and Federer’s high level of play at this year’s Australian Open.
The men’s final will be played on Sunday, and the entrants truly are hard to guess at with confidence. However, if you were to go by probabilities, I think a Murray/Djokovic rematch is the most likely matchup.