Top seed Serena Williams staged a barnstorming comeback to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday, defeating Spain's Garbine Muguruza in a three-set dogfight.
The American 18-time grand slam champion beat the 24th seed 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a final eight clash with last year’s finalist Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, seeded 11.
Williams, 33, is chasing her sixth Australian title and could lose her coveted No 1 ranking if she fails.
But the lacklustre starts that have plagued her this year at Melbourne Park continued against the highly rated Spanish 21-year old, who seized her chance and took the first set.
“I didn’t start out so well and she did everything she needed to do in the first set, so I just decided to do my best, stay focused and relax,” Williams said.
Muguruza went into the match with a 1-1 record against Williams, including bouncing her from last year’s French Open, and showed no signs of nerves against the world No 1.
Yelling “c’mon Serena, play better”, Williams struggled for consistency, sending down two aces but committing two crucial unforced errors when she conceded a second break that gifted Muguruza the first set.
An early break in the second set was squandered when Muguruza broke back and again refused to buckle as Williams hammered away at her serve.
The American’s persistence finally paid off and she broke Muguruza then belted down three straight aces to force a deciding set in style.
But she blew three break points in the opening game of the third, telling herself “relax, relax” after shanking a forehand wide.
It was then Williams’ turn to come under pressure, surviving six break points in a game that stretched almost 15 minutes, then comfortably breaking the Spaniard in the next.
It proved a turning point, with the dispirited Muguruza offering little further resistance as Williams wrapped up the match in exactly two hours.
Meanwhile, former grand slam champion Lindsay Davenport’s protege Madison Keys won her all-American clash with Madison Brengle in straight sets to also reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Unseeded world No 35 Keys downed Brengle 6-2, 6-4 to set up a last eight clash with either fellow American Venus Williams, seeded 18, or Polish sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
The 19-year-old, who upset fourth seed Petra Kvitova in the third round, started working with Davenport last year and said she felt her game had matured in the off-season.
“I think I’ve matured a little bit and just got my game together a little bit more. It’s kind of just come together,” she said.
Keys has long been touted as the rising star of American tennis and Serena Williams has said she was thrilled to see the teenager fulfilling her potential.
“She’s a great girl, she has such a great spirit about her,” Williams said. “She does everything really well. She just has so much unbelievable potential and she’s so young. It’s so good to see her doing so well.”
Keys admitted it was difficult facing world No 64 Brengle, a close friend who she keeps in constant contact with, including sending each other jokes about sharing the same first name.
“It’s always hard playing a friend, it makes it a little bit more of a challenge but I wanted to come out and play well and I’m in the quarters,” she said.
Keys started strongly with a game-plan slightly tweaked from her earlier rounds, going to the net instead of simply relying on powerful strokes from the baseline.
She raced through the first set in just 23 minutes and scored an early break in the second before Brengle responded with a break of her own.
By then it was too late and the main obstacle Keys faced were her nerves when she brought up three match points.
She wasted the first with a double fault, hit her forehand long on the second but finally sealed the win when Brengle netted her return on the third.
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