Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia ó Serena Williams watched Svetlana Kuznetsova stroll to the service line, getting ready to serve for the match.
Failure to break would prevent Williams, a three-time Australian Open singles champion, from having any chance of picking up her coveted 10th Grand Slam title.
So was Williams trying to figure out what Kuznetsova might do with her first serve? Maybe thinking about whether to stay back and slug it out or try to pressure the Russian by rushing the net?
Nope.
She was looking for motivation, and she found it by imagining what it would be like to make the long flight across the Pacific to the United States as a quarterfinal loser.
In the most cramped seat possible, with a lot of time to fume over a missed opportunity.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, if you lose, you’re going to fly coach all the way back to Florida, how uncomfortable that would be?’ ” Williams said, laughing. “That motivated me to do a little better.
“I wouldn’t allow myself to have the emergency row either. I would be so mad, I would have to sit like (in) the last row, the tightest row. That way I wouldn’t do it again.”
No worries. Williams broke Kuznetsova’s service, evened the set at 5-5, broke a game later and went on to a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win.
She can keep her business- or first-class ticket for at least another day ó at least until she plays Elena Dementieva in today’s semifinal.
Dementieva advanced to the semis with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Carla Suarez Navarro in the other quarterfinal. The unseeded Suarez Navarro beat Serena’s sister Venus in the second round.
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The way Rafael Nadal sees it, one good thing will come from the first all-Spanish semifinal in a hotly contested Australian Open.
A Spaniard will reach the final.
After improving one round on each of his previous four trips to Melbourne Park, odds are it will be top-ranked Nadal, who finished off a 6-2, 7-5, 7-5 win over No. 6 Gilles Simon on Wednesday as the temperature dipped to 93 from a daytime high of 109 degrees.
Nadal will meet another Spanish left-hander for a spot in the final after Fernando Verdasco ousted 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
“I think it’s incredible for us,” Nadal said. “One will be in the finals, so we have to be happy with that.”
No Spanish man has won the Australian title. Nadal reached the semifinals last year without dropping a set, but was upset by Tsonga.