Top seed Serena Williams powered into the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday, but was denied a showdown with elder sister Venus in Melbourne.
Serena had to save set points in her second round match and lost the opening set in rounds three and four, but made no such mistake against 2014 finalist Dominika Cibulkova on Rod Laver Arena.
The 18-time grand slam singles winner took the opening set with two breaks of serve and fired down a total of 15 aces to complete a 6-2, 6-2 victory in 65 minutes.
'I knew I had to be good today because she was in the final and plays really well on this court and I'm just happy to be through,' Williams said in an on-court interview which had to be cut short due to a cough she has been struggling with for the last few days. The 33-year-old will take on American teenager Madison Keys, who overcame a major injury scare to qualify for the first grand slam semi-final of her career.
Keys needed lengthy treatment off the court and went on to lose the second set to her idol Venus Williams in their quarter-final. However, the 19-year-old regrouped and twice came from a break down in the decider to win 6-3 4-6 6-4 and prevent Venus from becoming the oldest semi-finalist at a grand slam since 39-year-old Billie Jean King at Wimbledon in 1983.
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