Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are 22-all in career head-to-heads, have nine Australian Open titles between them, and warmed up for a semifinal meeting with clinical quarterfinal wins.
Six-time champion Serena Williams advanced to the semifinals yet again, extending her dominance in a 12-year rivalry with an 18th straight win over Maria Sharapova. The three most decorated players in Melbourne in the Open era all won in straight sets Tuesday, with Williams starting the roll with a 6-4, 6-1 win in a rematch of last year's final.
Djokovic's mark is almost as good he's 5-0 in semifinals, and in finals, in the season's first major. He advanced 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 over No. 7 Kei Nishikori in the night match on Rod laver.
Four-time champion Federer capped the afternoon session with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 6 Tomas Berdych, reaching his 12th Australian Open semifinal and his 39th in a Grand Slam. He hasn't gone past the semifinals here since winning the title in 2010.
Federer also has some inspiration in his next match against Djokovic. He lost to the Serbian star five of the six times they met in finals in 2015, including Wimbledon and the US Open.
The 34-year-old Federer used a full array of shots, including some vintage backhands, in his 48 winners, to avenge losses to Berdych at Wimbledon in 2010 and the 2012 US Open. "Tomas has caused me a lot of problems over the years," said Federer, who improved to 16-6 against the Czech player. "He's one of those guys who make you a better player, he's beaten me on the biggest courts around the world."
Djokovic has caused his share of pain for Federer since overtaking him in the rankings.
After his long five-setter against Gilles Simon, when he made a startling 100 unforced errors, Djokovic cut that down 27 in a faster-paced, shorter-rally encounter against 2014 US Open finalist Nishikori.
He came up with the big plays while facing break points in the first two sets, and only dropped serve in two exchanges of breaks in the third.
"That was a goal, to decrease the unforced errors ratio," Djokovic said, smiling.
"In important moments I stayed composed — overall it was a very solid performance. I have to be satisfied — I reached (the) semifinals. I won against a top-10 player in straight sets. Comparing to the fourth-round match, this was much better. That makes me confident and encourages me for the next one."
Sania to face Paes
Sania Mirza entered the women's doubles semifinals and set up a high-intensity clash against leander Paes in the mixed doubles after both the Indians made the quarterfinals with their respective partners in the Australian Open.
Sania and Swiss great Martina Hingis, seeded No.1, survived a mid-match slump to beat the 12th seeded German-American combine of Anna-lena Groenefeld and Coco Vandeweghe 6-2 4-6 6-1.
The duo, who are on a record winning streak, will next face the 13th seeded German-Czech pair of Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova.
later, Sania and Croat Ivan Dodig, also seeded top, sailed past the unseeded Kazakh-Pakistani duo of Yaroslava Shvedova and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-5 6-2.
On the other hand, Paes and Sania's women's doubles partner Martina Hingis hammered the American-Dutch pair of Sloane Stephens and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-1 6-2.
As a result, Sania and Paes find themselves pitted against each other in the mixed doubles quarterfinals.