Australian Open: Maria Sharapova faces nemesis Serena Williams again

The Russian has since lost 17 times in succession when facing the younger Williams sister.

Maria Sharapova on her way to victory over Belinda Bencic, of Switzerland (Getty Images)

There must be times when Maria Sharapova wonders if she will ever beat Serena Williams again. The 28-year-old Russian won two of her first three meetings with Williams – most famously at the age of 17 in the 2004 Wimbledon final and again four months later at the year-end championships – but has since lost to her 17 times in succession.

Since 2008, the two most high-profile women in the game have met 13 times, in the course of which Sharapova has won just one set. Their meeting in last year’s Australian Open final was one of their closer encounters, but the outcome was just the same.

Sharapova will attempt to avoid her 18th successive defeat to the world No 1 when they meet in the quarter-finals in Melbourne tomorrow. In their fourth-round matches yesterday, Williams crushed Russia’s Margarita Gasparyan 6-2, 6-1, while Sharapova held off the challenge of Belinda Bencic, the game’s most exciting teenager, to win 7-5, 7-5.

If Sharapova has any reason for optimism it will be the improvement in her serve. She remodelled her action following shoulder surgery but there have been times when she made far too many double-faults. She hit seven against Bencic, but that was more than compensated by her total of 21 aces, the most she has ever hit in a match.

“That’s something I have been working on a lot,” Sharapova said. “I have gone through many different motions to try to find my groove again and something that would hold up over many matches.”

Asked about the challenge of facing Williams, she said: “There is no reason I shouldn’t be looking to improve and to getting my game in a better position than any other previous round. It’s only going to be tougher, especially against Serena.”

Williams has won her last three matches for the loss of just eight games. The knee injury which forced her to withdraw from her only warm-up tournament at the Hopman Cup without completing a match is a rapidly fading memory.

Despite her remarkable domination over Sharapova, Williams said she would be taking nothing for granted. “Every match is new,” said the 34-year-old American. “She always brings in something new and something special. She’s very consistent as well. I’m really confident in my game right now – not [especially] against her or any other opponent; I’m just really looking at me right now and I feel if I can just continue to play well then it could be good.”

Agnieszka Radwanska survived a thrilling fourth-round match when she beat Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 after trailing 5-2 in the final set. Friedsam was in tears in the closing stages as problems with both her legs cost her victory. “I didn’t know whether it was cramping or an injury,” she said.

In the quarter-finals, Radwanska will meet Carla Suarez Navarro, who staged a spirited fightback to beat Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 0-6, 6-3, 6-2.