An irrepressible Serena Williams kept her record-breaking Grand Slam dream alive on Wednesday by beating Johanna Konta to make the Australian Open semifinal for the eighth time, where >she will meet fellow veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
The American joined sister Venus in the last four after stepping up a level to oust the dangerous Briton 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena and end her nine-match winning streak.
Her battling victory keeps intact a potential all-Williams final, with Venus needing to get past fellow American Coco Vandeweghe in the other semifinal to set-up the nostalgic showdown.
But, first Serena must beat former teenage prodigy Lucic-Baroni, who upset fifth seed Karolina Pliskova to continue her heart-warming comeback after her career was derailed by personal issues.
"She played so well, she's definitely a future champion here for sure," Williams said of ninth-seeded Konta. "I'm really happy to get through that."
"I got a little frustrated, but I told myself, stop complaining. Don't be 'Baby-rena'. I admit I complain a lot. That's my thing. I try to just have fun, and try to enjoy the moment out here."
The victory over Konta, who had been in impeccable touch heading into the match, marked an incredible 10th successive Grand Slam semifinal for Williams, and her 34th overall, reinforcing the 35-year-old's remarkable consistency.
She has refused to talk about the possibility of finally surpassing Steffi Graf to win a 23rd Grand Slam and take sole ownership of the Open-era record. But, Williams now has a real chance of doing so to further cement her place as perhaps the greatest player of all time.
If she achieves the goal of winning a seventh Australian Open, it will also propel her back to World No. 1, after Angelique Kerber snatched the accolade from her last year.
Service problems
In the first meeting between the pair, Konta showed intent by winning the opening point but Williams settled to hold serve, before the Briton served to love.
Williams was struggling with her first serve, with just one in three finding their mark in the opening encounters and she had to fend off a break point in the third game, raising her arms in the air when she finally won with an ace.
But it was Konta under pressure in the next game with Williams unloading some powerful ground strokes, forcing a backhand error from the Briton to go 3-1 in front.
Williams is known for her pounding forehand winners, but her baseline weapon had been lacking its usual punch in Melbourne, until now.
She began hitting some ferocious shots that Konta struggled to counter and the decorated American raced through the first set in 35 minutes.
Before the match, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said Williams must start moving better around the court to counter Konta's lightning fast game, and she seemed to have taken the advice to heart.
But her service game continued to cause problems with too many first serves called out, handing Konta a chance on the second and she broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set when Williams shunted a forehand wide.
But back-to-back aces on Williams' next service game helped her confidence and she broke back to level the scores at 3-3.
Konta, 25, who made the semi-finals last year in a breakthrough season, remained calm and collected but she could do nothing to stop Williams as she moved up another gear to close out the match.
Stats
Time: 1hr 15min
Konta - Williams
2 Aces 10
3 Double Faults 2
11 Winners 25
22 Unforced Errors 21
1/3 Break Point Conversions 4/8
45 Total Points Won 63
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