Whether it was Ana or Daniela or Maria or Jelena who reached the Australian Open final during the night, one thing was for sure. Their grand-slam semi-finals caused an outbreak of tennis finger among the photographic fraternity, overexcited the vast majority of the male population and provided the enchantment for which Sony Ericsson, the telecommunications company, had been praying since it started paying $88 million (about £43 million) a year to become the WTA tour’s global sponsor in 2005.

The tour would not admit as much for fear of offending those players who do not figure at the top end of poster sales, but it does not get much better than this. Add the location, and its penchant for glorious summer days, and the setting could not be more appropriate. Of them all, Daniela Hantuchova was probably the proudest, reaching this stage of a grand-slam event for the first time in 29 attempts.

Not only are these four among the most glamorous players on the circuit, they have also set a remarkable record for their part of the world. This was the first grand-slam semi-final in the history of women’s tennis with all four players hailing from Eastern Europe – Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, of Serbia, Maria Sharapova, of Russia, and Hantuchova, of Slovakia. And Ag-nieszka Radwanska, beaten 6-2, 6-2 by Hantuchova in yesterday’s quarter-finals, is from Poland, just to emphasise the point.

Ivanovic had lost her previous four matches against Venus Williams, the Wimbledon champion, and had not won a set in the process, so the composure demonstrated in her 7-6, 6-4 triumph was impressive.

Williams came on with her left thigh heavily strapped, as it was the previous day, whereas on Sunday she had played with similar mounds of bandage. Who knows what to make of all that?

Whenever either Williams sister loses before a semi-final questions are asked about how long they will last as a force. “What’s important to me is what goes on in my head,” Venus said. “I have full expectations. . . to continue to play high-quality tennis. The way we are playing still maintains what other women are doing in tennis. I don’t get caught up in what the next person thinks.”