Serena beats Maria again !!!

American tennis great Serena Williams is through to the semi-finals at the Australian Open again, and once again she's beaten Maria Sharapova in Melbourne.

Williams again triumphed in a repeat of last year's women's final on Rod Laver Arena - in fact, Sharapova has now lost her last 18 matches against the 34-year-old.

The world No.1 was pushed hard in the first set but then Williams easily overcame her old Russian rival in the second to win their quarter-final 6-4 6-1.

Sharapova got the early break in the opening set, but the defending champion broke back and held serve at 4-4 despite the Russian having two break point chances.

The six-time Melbourne champion then blew three set points on Sharapova's serve in the decisive 10th game, before Williams prevailed with her fourth attempt.

The second set was much easier as Sharapova crumbled - the 2008 champion's serve was broken straight away, and again to trail 0-5 before she finally held. But then Williams, in a truly dominant display, served it out.

Williams, who twice had treatment during breaks in the rematch of last year's final, has reached the last four at Melbourne Park on six previous occasions and gone on to win the title every time.

"Yeah it was super intense, she's an incredibly intense, focused player who was No.1 and has won so many grand slams for a reason so when you're playing someone like that, that's so great, you have to come out with a lot of fire and intensity," Williams said.

She now plays Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in the semis, after the fourth seed advanced 6-1 6-3 over 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.

It's the second semi-final Radwanska's made at Melbourne Park, and she said it wasn't as easy as the scoreline would suggest.

"I knew it would be a tough one," Radwanska said.

"She is very solid, like most Spanish players and I knew everything would come back to my side. I tried to be aggressive and focus on my serve and I think I did a good job."

Williams, who is looking for her 22nd major singles title, has an 8-0 head-to-head record against Radwanska.

- RNZ/Reuters

Nick Kyrgios and Venus Williams hit with fine in opening round of Australian Open !!

Nick Kyrgios has been slapped with the second largest fine of the Australian Open to date after swearing in his first round victory against Pablo Correno Busta on Monday.

Kyrgios was hit was a $US3000 (NZ$4702.27) fine on Wednesday for audible obscenity during his straight sets win over the Spaniard.

While Kyrgios has a suspended $25,000 fine and 28-day ban hanging over his head, the strict guidelines around verbal and physical abuse are only applicable at ATP events, not grand slams.

The suspended sanctions were put in place after his now infamous "Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend" sledge at Stan Wawrinka in August last year.

However the biggest fine of the tournament has been handed to former world No.1 Venus Williams, who copped $US5000 (NZ$7837.11) fine for not fronting a mandatory post-match media conference on Tuesday.

Williams wasn't in the mood for talking following her shock straight sets defeat to the Sydney-born Johanna Konta, who now represents Great Britain.

Australian Open officials announced the 35-year-old, who went down 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena, was sanctioned for her actions with a $5000 fine on Wednesday.

While her sister Serena Williams attended her post match commitments, she did call a premature end to the conference, saying "I'm calling it, I'm out" as she left the room.

Venus, the tournament's No.8 seed, was hit with the largest fine a female competitor has been given for brushing the media conference, and the second highest since former Australian Open champion Marat Safin was fined $10,000 at the French Open in 2001.

Australia's women have struggled at this year's Open, but Konta - who represented Australia from 2008 to 2012 before joining Great Britain - has no plans of returning.

"No. Unfortunately, my home is Great Britain," she said.

"It has been for a long time now, over a decade. Yeah, no, that's where my heart is."

 - smh.com.au