U.S. teenager ends Serena’s win streak

MELBOURNE, Australia - Serena Williams' dominating run at the majors is over. American teenager Sloane Stephens is headed to the semifinals of the Australian Open.

Williams hurt her back in the eighth game of the second set, hampering her serve. She had treatment and recovered well enough to give herself a shot at winning the match, but the 19-year-old Stephens kept her composure in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory today.

The loss was the first since Aug. 17 for the 15-time Grand Slam winner, ending a run of 20 straight wins. She hadn't lost a match at a Grand Slam tournament since the French Open, where her first-round exit sparked a resurgence in the second half of 2012 that included titles at Wimbledon, the London Olympics, the U.S. Open and the WTA Championship.

After winning her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, Stephens next plays defending champion and top-ranked Victoria Azarenka.

Williams walked around the net to congratulate Stephens, who then clapped her hand on her racket and waved to the crowd, a look of disbelief on her face.

She then went to her tennis bag, pulled out her phone and started checking for any text messages from her mother.

"I was hoping she had texted me right away. I thought maybe she was texting me during the match," Stephens said. "I'm sure my grandparents are, like, freaking out."

Stephens has said she had a photo of Williams up in her room when she was a child, and long had admired the Williams sisters.

"This is so crazy. Oh my goodness," Stephens said, wiping away tears in her post-match TV interview. "I think I'll put a poster of myself (up) now."

For her part, Williams said the bad back was just another problem to contend with at a Grand Slam event that had been "absolutely" her worst for injuries.

"Everyone at this stage in the locker room has something wrong with them. It's no excuse," she said. "I went for this drop shot, and it just locked up on me. I couldn't really rotate after that.

"It was a little painful, but it's OK."

Azarenka overcame early jitters to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-1 in the earlier quarterfinal match at Rod Laver Arena.

After dropping serve in a long fourth game that went to deuce 10 times, Azarenka recovered to dominate the rest of the match against Kuznetsova, a two-time major winner who was floating dangerously in the draw with a No. 75 ranking as she recovers from a knee injury.

In the men's quarterfinals, top-ranked Novak Djokovic, the two-time defending champion, advanced with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych. The 2-hour, 31-minute victory took exactly half the time of Djokovic's five-set, fourth-round win against Stanislas Wawrinka.

Djokovic will meet No. 4 seed David Ferrer in the semifinals.

Also, third-seeded Andy Murray breezed to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over France's Jeremy Chardy.