Top seeds march into semi-finals

Top-ranked titleholder Novak Djokovic has set up a dream Australian Open semi-final against Roger Federer with a straight-sets win over Kei Nishikori.

In women's doubles, the top-seeded duo of Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza won their 34th consecutive match on Tuesday, holding off 12th seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld & Coco Vandeweghe 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the semifinals.

Something daunting in her path to the title, though, is a semifinal against either six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams or five-time major victor Maria Sharapova, who won the title at Melbourne Park in 2008 and has reached three other finals.

Federer won the first match, 7-5 6-2 in the group stages but Djokovic won in the more important stage of the tourney, winning 6-3 6-3 over Federer in the championship round.

Novak Djokovic, five-time victor, downed Japan's Kei Nishikori on Tuesday to set up a much-anticipated Australian Open semi-final with Roger Federer.

Another ominous fact facing the Pole is that every time defending champion Williams has got past the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, she has gone on to win the tournament.

"It's not a stat that's set in stone", Williams said ^[1].

"It's part of the reason why I guess I'm still playing", Federer said. "You have to come out with a lot of fire and intensity". Williams had 13 aces, hit 31 winners to 11, and broke Sharapova's serve four times.

As the age of 34, Serena Williams is not getting any younger but she is also not showing any signs of slowing down either. She's very explosive. She stays quite close to the baseline. Yeah."Sharapova broke to open the match but Williams held in the third game and broke back to level at 2-2.

From there, Serena protected her own serve - even as a baby wailed in the stands in the ninth game as she faced breakpoints - and took high-risk options with her service returns to unsettle Sharapova.

It is a familiar tale of the two biggest female names in sport, with the American still unbeaten against her rival since 2004. Live scores ^[2] and real-time internet updates are available on the Australian Open official website ^[3].

As the year's first Grand Slam tournament began last week, the BBC and BuzzFeed News published reports saying tennis authorities failed to thoroughly pursue evidence of match fixing involving more than a dozen players who have ranked in the top 50 over the past decade. Federer rolled back the years and won an exceptional 70-minute opening set in a tiebreak and then claimed the second set before the Serb took the third set and was serving for the fourth.

"I'm playing good tennis, fun tennis for me anyway". "He's one of those guys who make you a better player, he's beaten me on the biggest courts around the world".

Many think Wimbledon is Federer's best shot at winning another Grand Slam title. "If she wins, I'll be very happy for her. I'm sure she'll feel the same way", Williams said.

Djokovic said his day off was merely "hitting the re-set button".

Djokovic, with his win over Nishikori, extended his unbeaten Grand Slam run to 19 matches and has not lost at a major tournament since he was defeated by Stan Wawrinka in last year's French Open finals.

"These two guys made me the player I am today".