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her abrasive, in-your-face best at the site of her two major triumphs, dropping 11 games in four rounds. But just when the old Vika would have gone for the jugular — and Kerber retreated in doubt — it was the former No. 1 who blew five set points and never recovered. Kerber then ended the fairytale run of Johanna Konta, the first British female Grand Slam semifinalist in 32 years, 75 62. In her Aussie main-draw debut, Konta toppled Venus Williams and went on to crack the Top 30. As an Australian native, with Hungarian parents, the No. 47 got plenty of attention from the local media, especially when she out-performed adopted Aussie Daria Gavrilova, conqueror of Petra Kvitova. The thoughtful 24-year- old played the diplomatic game with aplomb. "Australia is my birth home but Great Britain is my home and where my heart is." Konta's quarterfinal victim was China's Zhang Shuai, a qualifier ranked 133 who was so distraught at her 0-14, eight- year odyssey in Grand Slams that she considered quitting the game for a future in farming! The 27-year-old sensationally broke her drought with a first round upset of No. 2 seed Simona Halep. "Everybody say I make everybody cry," said Zhang. There were few happier scenes at the Happy Slam. Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza romped to their third straight major win, a 76 63 final defeat of Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. Some 18 years after her doubles Grand Slam, the ageless Hingis is eyeing a four-Slam sweep with Mirza in Paris at age 35. But the Swiss doubles genius was upstaged on the final weekend by 33-year-old Brazilian Bruno Soares, who scooped the men's and mixed doubles titles within 24 hours. In their first Grand Slam teaming, Soares and Jamie Murray trumped Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek (combined ages 80) 26 64 75 in the early hours of Sunday. Soares backed up on Sunday afternoon with Elena Vesnina to defeat Horia Tecau and Coco Vandeweghe 64 46 [10-5]. The Russian was thrilled to win her first mixed major at her favourite Grand Slam. Safe to say it's even more special for Soares, the first man since Mark Woodforde in 1992 to hold both doubles titles at Melbourne Park. R oger Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets in the semis Milos Raonic was injured during his semifinal loss to Andy Murray Agnieszka R adwanska advanced to the last four www.itftennis.com