Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska snapped a seven-match losing streak against Victoria Azarenka to send the two-time defending champion crashing out of the Australian Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
After meekly losing her serve to gift the second set to the No.2 seed, Radwanska kept her composure, dominating the final set to win 6-1 5-7 6-0.
Azarenka’s loss meant that none of the top three seeds made it to the last four at Melbourne, Park, with world No.1 Serena Williams and third seed Maria Sharapova losing earlier in the tournament.
Radwanska is through to a grand slam semi for only the third time in 31 attempts and the first at any major other than Wimbledon.
The Polish star’s opponent in the last four on Thursday will be 20th-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, who smashed Simona Halep 6-3 6-0.
Cibulkova, 24, had upset Sharapova in the previous round and never looked troubled against Halep.
The 11th-seeded Romanian looked overawed in her first grand slam quarter-final and was only able to hold her serve twice in seven attempts.
Rod Laver Arena
Not Before: 2.00pm
Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [22]
Rod Laver Arena
7:00 pm
Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals Andy Murray (GBR) [4] vs. Roger Federer (SUI) [6]
Mixed Doubles – Quarterfinals Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs. Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) [2] Rohan Bopanna (IND) [2]
Results from Australian Open Tuesday
Men Quarterfinals
8-Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) bt 2-Novak Djokovic (SRB) 2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7.
7-Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt 3-David Ferrer (ESP) 6-1 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Women Quarterfinals 30-Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) bt 14-Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 5-7 7-5 6-2.
4-Li Na (CHN) bt 28-Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 6-2 6-2.
Men’s Doubles Quarterfinals
8-Daniel Nestor (CAN)/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) bt WC-Alex Bolt/Andrew Whittington (AUS) 6-2 7-6
(1). Eric Butorac (USA)/Raven Klaasen (RSA) bt 12-Treat Huey (PHI)/Dominic Inglot (GBR) 6-7(3) 7-6(6) 6-4.
Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals
4-Kveta Peschke (CZE)/Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS)/Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) 7-5 4-6 6-4.
1-Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci (ITA) bt 6-Cara Black (ZIM)/Sania Mirza (IND) 6-2 3-6 6-4.
3-Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt 7-Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Safarova (CZE) 6-2 2-6 7-6(4).
8-Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears (USA) bt Shahar Peer (ISR)/Silvia Soler (ESP) 6-4 6-0.
Mixed Doubles Rd 2
Julia Gorges (GER)/Aisam Qureshi (PAK) bt 4-Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/Max Mirnyi (BLR) 6-3 6-4.
Zheng Jie (CHN)/Scott Lipsky (USA) bt 1-Anna-Lena Gronefeld (GER)/Alexander Peya (AUT) 2-6 7-6(5) 10-5.
