Keys Looks For Victory Over Second Williams Sister

Having beaten her sister, Madison Keys will have to overcome world number one Serena Williams in the Australian Open semi-final tomorrow (6:15). The winner of this event will face the victor of the second semi-final taking place between Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova just hours earlier.

This encounter will be the first time that the two Americans have met on-court in a WTA event, though five-time Australian Open champion Williams is the 1/8 favourite with bet365 to progress through to her sixth Grand Slam final down under. In opposition, this will be Keys` first Grand Slam semi-final and is best priced 5/1 at bet365 to pull off an upset against her 33-year-old compatriot.

Whilst an upset would indeed be unlikely, Williams hasn`t had it all her own way in Australia and has twice had to come back from being one set down to see off strong opposition. The first time the Michigan-born star dropped the first set was against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (6-4) in the competition`s third round before sealing the second 6-2 and recording a bagel victory in the concluding set.

Williams once again had her back to the wall in her subsequent fourth round tie with Garbine Muguruza of Spain, this time losing the opening set 6-2 before taking the remaining two 6-3, 6-2. Whilst the 18-time Grand Slam winner will hope not to have to do it again tomorrow, she can be backed at 5/1 (Betvictor, sportingbet, william hill) to come from behind for a third time.

Only once has Keys dropped the opening set in this tournament, having to come from behind to take down home hope Casey Dellacqua of Perth. Dellacqua secured the first set 6-2 but could only win two more games in the entire match as her 19-year-old rival fought back to take both sets two and three 6-1, 6-1. william hill has 14/1 on another spectacular rise from the flames from the youngster tomorrow.

What might be more likely, however, is the chance of another 6-0 victory. Williams has recorded three in her five matches at the tournament so far, her final set bagel victory against 26th seed Svitolina in the third competition stage following her 6-0, 6-4 win over Alison Van Uytvanck in the first round and her 7-5, 6-0 defeating of Vera Zvonareva in the second. Those thinking that Williams will be able to secure another bagel win against Keys can place a bet at odds of 17/4 with betfair. Otherwise, should you have faith in her opponent, 1/8 with the same bookmaker says there won`t be one recorded in the match tomorrow.

The world number one has dropped only 32 games in the entire competition this year. This is the equivalent of around three a set (2.6) or just over six a match (6.4). With this in mind, William Hill have released a book regarding the number of games Keys will win in the first set and it might be worth taking on the most popular option of six games (13/5). Alternatively, it is 16/5 should you think the woman ranked 35th in the world will win three games in the first set or 17/5 if you believe she will win four.

As a comparison, Keys has dropped a total of 44 sets in her five previous matches. This is an average of just under four a set (3.6) and under nine a match (8.8).

As well as taking down Dellacqua and Venus Williams in the second round and quarter-final respectively, Keys has also seen off Lesia Tsurenko, Petra Kvitova and Madison Brengle.

The younger Williams sibling beat last year`s runner-up Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-final after victories over Van Uytvanck, Zvonareva, Svitolina and Muguruza.

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28/01/2015     © Frixo 2026