Surprising Women's Semifinals
A few days ago it was big news that Venus Williams (No.18) was in the quarter finals and today it's big news that she was beat by 19-year-old American, Madison Keys.
Madison Keys has had an amazing Australian Open. She beat Petra Kvitova, the reigning Wimbledon champ, in straight sets. Next, she faced Venus Williams, who she beat in three sets. The unseeded Madison Keys will face top-seeded Serena Williams in the semifinals tonight. If she wins she will become the eighth tennis player to beat both Williams sisters in the same tournament.
Interestingly, the women's semifinals are America vs America and Russia vs Russia. Maria Sharapova, No. two seed, will play against Ekaterina Makarova, No. ten seed (and the second highest seeded Russian player). Sharapova beat Eugenie Bouchard... with a resounding win. She looked good. And Ekaterina Makarova beat No. 3 Simona Halep.
We could see top-ranked Serena play second-ranked Maria Sharapova or we could have a completely unexpected final between Keys and Makarova (and, of course, any combination of above). Which would you rather see?
Top Men Contend
On the men's side Novak Djokovic beat Milos Raonic and will face Stan Wawrinka. Will we see a repeat of last year's final? Or will Djokovic prevail? It's Novak Djokovic's 25th grand slam semifinal but I'm sure Stan Wawrinka is feeling confident, after all, it was just last year that he beat Djokovic to become the champion.
Andy Murray looked good against Nick Kyrgios. Australian Kyrgios is another young player, only 19, and he seems to be a "love him or hate him" type of player. He gets the crowd going but he has a serious on-court temper. Murray advances to his fifth Australian Open semifinal where he will play Tomas Berdych, after his win against Nadal.
Unlike the women's side, all four men left in the semifinals are highly ranked. Here are the remaining four:
- No. 1 Novak Djokovic
- No. 4 Stan Wawrinka
- No. 6 Andy Murray
- No. 7 Tomas Berdych
With those four, it really could be anyone's game. Who do you think we will see in the 2015 Australian Open men's finals?