Tennis: Radwanska through to Aussie Open semi-finals

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland plays a forehand return to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain during their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open. Photo / AP.

Agnieszka Radwanska is the first woman through to the Australian Open semi-finals, having crushed Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets this afternoon.

Fourth seed Radwanska stepped up her search for a maiden grand slam title in style, beating Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.

The Pole will be looking to erase memories of her previous best finish at Melbourne Park, a 2014 semi-final loss to Dominika Cibulkova that lasted just 70 minutes.

It won't be easy. Radwanska faces either six-times champion and world No.1 Serena Williams or last year's runner-up Maria Sharapova on Thursday for a place in Saturday's title decider.

"I have nothing to lose, no matter who I play against," Radwanska said.

"It's going to be an incredible match (between Williams and Sharapova). I'm going to watch for sure and have a good rest.

"Hopefully I can play my best tennis in the semi, otherwise I will be in big trouble."

The 26-year-old will take confidence from the way she dispatched Suarez Navarro.

The Spanish fourth-round conqueror of Aussie Daria Gavrilova didn't hold serve until the match was 18 minutes old - at that point Radwanska boasted a 4-1 lead .

Ten minutes later, Radwanska pocketed the first set.

The 2012 Wimbledon runner-up did it by breaking again, with Suarez Navarro committing two faults and three unforced errors while unsuccessfully serving to keep the set alive.

It wasn't exactly uncharted territory for the 10th seed.

Twice before in this tournament Suarez Navarro battled back to win after dropping the first set, including in her elimination of Gavrilova when the local hope bageled her.

She raised hopes of a similar fightback by breaking Radwanska twice early in the second set and finally holding held serve to level it 3-3.

It took a mountain of work.

Six times they went to deuce in an epic 18-point game, during which Suarez Navarro defused three break points and won an sensational 19-stroke rally.

But Radwanska held comfortably, broke for a sixth time in the match and powered into the final four.

"I'm happy to keep it up, playing my best tennis pretty much every match," she said. "I tried to be aggressive, focus on my serve.

"I'm very pleased. I knew it was going to be tough."

The world No.4 saved three break points to get the job done on her first chance to serve out the match.

-AAP