

One thing is for certain whenever Serena Williams, 34, plays Maria Sharapova, 28: the match is going to be epic. These two are headed for showdown while down under at the Australian Open. While Serena has dominated Maria for more than a decade, is it time for Maria to finally defeat her rival?
These two titans will play at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 25. Will this be another day when Serena dominates, or will Maria upset her long-standing nemesis? The match kicks off at 8:45 p.m. EST so be ready to see these two legends fight for tennis supremacy.
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Maria hasn’t won a match against Serena in 12 years, according to ESPN, so this rivalry is pretty lopsided in Serena’s favor. But that puts a lot of pressure on the defending Australian Open champ. “I think the person who’s winning could definitely feel the pressure because there are a lot of expectations,” Serena told reporters. “The person who is losing, they’re thinking, ‘Well, I have lost X amount in a row; I don’t have anything more to lose.'”
After losing 17-straight games to Serena, will Maria finally get the win? When Maria played Belinda Bencic in the Australian Open’s fourth round on Jan. 24, not only did she win in two sets – 7-5, 7-5 – but fired off 21 aces, according to The New York Times. It seems Maria is playing with a renewed fire and could pull off what she hasn’t been able to do since 2004: beat Serena.
Maria still remembers how she suffered two major losses against Serena in 2015. Not only did she defeat Maria in the finals of the 2015 Australian Open, Serena shut her out her in two sets – 6-2, 6-4 – at Wimbledon. Both of these matches were part of Serena’s epic run that almost ended with a Grand Slam.
Sadly, with a loss to Roberta Vinci at the 2015 U.S. Open, Serena was denied her chance to make tennis history. Maria also suffered her own major loss, as she broke up with Grigor Dimitrov after two years of dating. But that was then. This is now. What better way to start 2016 than with a victory? So, who’s going to walk away the victor: Serena or Maria?
Who do you want to win this match, HollywoodLifers? Do you want Serena to try again at a Grand Slam?