Australian Open 2015 Results: Winners, Scores, Stats from Day 11 Singles Bracket
The women's final and one-half of the men's final are set as the 2015 Australian Open enters the home stretch after thrilling action in Day 11.
It was a short turnaround for top-seeded Serena Williams in facing 19-year-old phenom Madison Keys in an all-American semifinal, but the advantage still went to experience. No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova's hot streak couldn't be brought to an end by Ekaterina Makarova, who was trounced in straight sets and only won five games throughout the match.
In the night cap, two surging men's contenders went toe-to-toe with No. 6 Andy Murray getting the best of seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych in an exciting four-set match.
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With only three matches on the slate for Thursday, let's go ahead and go in-depth with the results from the Day 11 semifinals.
| No. 6 Andy Murray def. No. 7 Tomas Berdych | 6-7 (8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 |
| No. 1 Serena Williams def. Madison Keys | 7-6 (5), 6-2 |
| No. 2 Maria Sharapova def. No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova | 6-3, 6-2 |
Note: Full Day 11 scores available at AusOpen.com.
Day 11 Semifinal Scores
No. 6 Andy Murray def. No. 7 Tomas Berdych
Murray brought to a halt both Berdych's incredible streak of set wins and his Australian Open, bouncing back from a tight first set to take control and win in four sets to move on to the final.
From the opening game, this one seemed to matter extra to Murray. It was his first time facing former assistant coach Dani Vallverdu, who was in Berdych's corner, and tensions nearly boiled over in the first set. Murray was seen with an emotional roar toward Berdych's camp after a first-set break and Berdych looked to take exception, per Pro-Direct Tennis:
The Czech underdog pulled out the opening set, but seemed to fall apart right after, as Murray's service got more unstoppable and Berdych's own serve struggled. He began to rack up double faults (he had six in the match) while only winning a whopping 32 percent of his 130 receiving points.
Neither player had much success on the second serve, but it was Murray whose first serve got better and better as the match progressed. Combined with Murray's usual dominant return game, Berdych ran out of answers as the match trudged along.
Berdych looked to be the ultimate test for Murray—an ever-confident, powerful hitter with a complete game. Then, Murray hit 15 aces to Berdych's five and kept him chasing from the opening set on.
The victory marks a fourth career Australian Open final appearance, but Murray is still looking to hoist his first-ever trophy in Melbourne. Now playing some of the best tennis of his career, Murray's chances shouldn't be disliked even though it will come against either top seed Novak Djokovic or defending champion Stan Wawrinka.
No. 1 Serena Williams def. Madison Keys
Although Williams might have seen a bit of her younger self in the 19-year-old Keys, the top seed still had to remind her who's the queen.
After squeaking out an opening-set tiebreaker, Williams gained her footing and began overpowering the fellow American in the second set to put it away. In doing so, she ended a Cinderella-story run for Keys and marched on toward the final.
Big serves were utilized for both, with Williams smashing 13 aces and Keys hitting 12. They maintained nearly identical percentages in first serves in and won, but Williams' decided advantage in second-serve points won (68 percent to 47) helped her to jump on Keys' service late.
Keys was actually much more aggressive with a 27-19 advantage in winners, but her whopping 39 unforced errors to Williams' 16 more than made up for that. That helped continue her run of dominance in semifinals and move closer toward history, per ESPN Stats and Info:
The way Keys fought against the best player in the world more than validated her insane run in Melbourne, but it couldn't keep Williams from her fate of facing Maria Sharapova in a dream-like final between the draw's top two seeds.
No. 2 Maria Sharapova def. No. 10 Ekaterina Makarova
Sharapova's incredible run in Melbourne showed no signs of slowing Thursday. In fact, she looks more formidable than ever after a straight-set drubbing of fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova in their semifinal meeting.
Makarova couldn't handle Sharapova's service, and it wasn't like she was overpowering her with aces—there were three all match between the players. But what Sharapova could do with her serve was keep her opponent off balance and chasing, which resulted in Makarova winning just 19 of her 58 receiving points.
Meanwhile, Sharapova had no such trouble during Makarova's service, winning over half (31 of 61) of her receiving points for the match and reducing Makarova to just 11 winners all match.
It was yet another breeze of a match that seemed to be over moments after it started, as Brian Phillips of Grantland cleverly quipped:
"Sharapova wins a grueling, epic duel against Makarova, or so it seemed to the fly in the audience whose lifespan was 48 hours.
— Brian Phillips (@runofplay) January 29, 2015"
Makarova's run to this point had Sharapova expecting a bigger fight, but it just went to show how locked in the second seed is right now. Ever since overcoming two match points to Alexandra Panova eight days ago, Sharapova hasn't lost a set.
With a final meeting against Williams looming, Sharapova was still enjoying how well she played in another comprehensive win Thursday after the match.
"I think it was important to really stand my ground in the first few games, which I did well, even though I was behind, especially the first and second one," Sharapova said in her post-match interview. "But, yeah, those key moments are really important. Yeah, definitely happy I was able to win really solid today."
Solid play will be needed once more from Sharapova if she wants to end a nightmarish 15-match losing streak to her longtime nemesis in the final.
Match stats courtesy of the Australian Open's official site.
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