Serena Williams of the USA returns to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in their quarter-final match of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Wednesday. (EPA Photo/Julian Smith)

Serena Storms Back After Venus’s Exit; Federer Snaps Davydenko’s Streak

Serena Williams salvaged some family pride on Wednesday at the Australian Open.

After older sister Venus’s loss to China’s Li Na in the previous match on Rod Laver Arena, four-time champion Serena was down a set and 4-0 in the second before she rebounded for a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Top-seeded Roger Federer overcame an awkward start to win 13 straight games and beat Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 to reach the semifinals for a 23rd successive Grand Slam.

Novak Djokovic played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the man he beat for the 2008 Australian Open title, in a later quarterfinal on Wednesday. Andy Murray and Marin Cilic are already through to the semifinals from the other half of the draw.

“I’ve played [Davydenko] many times before, and I know he goes through … some rock-solid phases at times,” Federer said. “I just tried to stay positive.”

Federer’s victory snapped Davydenko’s 13-game winning streak after the Russian player won the season-ending ATP World Finals in November at London and his 20th career title in Doha earlier this month.

Venus Williams couldn’t make it to an expected sister semifinal. Instead, Serena will take on Li, who beat Venus 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5. Justine Henin, playing in her first Grand Slam tournament in two years after coming back from a two-year retirement, will play Zheng Jie in the other semifinal.

Serena Williams was far from confident after the first hour of the match, thinking of her sister’s loss.

“I wasn’t playing my best, especially in the first two sets,” she said. “I was down the whole match from the first point until the end. I wasn’t surprised, but I was definitely shocked.”

Instead of wilting, she fought back in the second set with two service breaks of her own, easily won the tiebreaker and dominated the third.

“I think it’s impressive the way she does it,” Azarenka said. “She’s a strong girl. She has very powerful shots.”

Venus Williams had more mistakes than luck against Li, who called the win the “best day of my life” and said she might celebrate with a beer.

“It’s important to put the ball in the court,” said Venus Williams, who served for the match in the second set. “I felt like sometimes I made some errors.”

That was an understatement. The pair’s unforced errors went over the 100 mark midway through the final set. There were eight breaks of serve in the first 10 games of the third set.

“Unfortunately I let my errors creep in, and then I allowed her to dictate too much,” Williams said. “But she played really well.” AP

Your View

See Result