Maria Sharapova

Australian Open: Serena Williams to Play Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open Final

Tennis: Serena Williams will face Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final after sweeping past Nicole Vaidisova. Serena Williams, unseeded and ranked No81 in the world, made it back to a Grand Slam final for the first time in two years with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win over Nicole Vaidisova at the Australian Open today. Williams, who has seven Grand Slam titles to her name, weathered Vaidisova's powerful forehands and gave back plenty of her own, sometimes surprising the 17-year-old Czech with her speed around the court and the pace of her ball. Vaidisova broke Williams' serve in the first game and was dictating early rallies until Williams broke back to level at 3-3. The pair traded breaks late in the set, with Vaidisova going ahead 5-4 and having a set point on serve before Williams rallied to break back and force a tiebreaker. The American led 5-1 in the tiebreaker but allowed Vaidisova back to 5-5, serving consecutive double-faults. She set up set point with a backhand winner and took the set after Vaidisova dumped a forehand into the net. Williams broke Vaidisova twice in the second set but the No 10 seed rallied and won four straight games, saving four match points after being down 0-40 to hold the ninth game. "I almost did a gagarooney there," said Williams. "Basically, you know gagging." Her 10th ace of the match, on a second serve, set up Williams' sixth match point, and she finally cashed this one, throwing her hands in the air and leaning back to look at the sky. The 2005 champion will face the No1 seed, Maria Sharapova ,in the final, after the 19-year-old Russian brushed Kim Clijsters aside 6-4, 6-2 in the second semi-final. After leading 5-1 in the second, she needed six match points before sealing the match with an overhead. "She played some incredible points on match point," Williams said. "She just got relaxed. It reminded me a bit of myself. I just tried to stay focused and tried to stay calm - it was just great." Sharapova overcame an early service break to dominate Clijsters, who was only able to convert two of her 12 breakpoint chances despite the Russian making eight double-faults and 33 unforced errors. "I saw those double faults come in at the wrong times. But somehow I managed to fight through and make the first serve when I had to," Sharapova said. "That was the key and is also going to be the key in the final. Sharapova was at her best under pressure, fending off seven break points in the second set. She rallied from 0-40 in the first game with a pair of aces and three forehand winners. Sharapova, the US Open champion, will be making her first appearance in an Australian Open final after two losses in the semi-finals, one of them to Willams in 2005. Sharapova said she was looking forward to a rematch with Williams. "I'm excited for that. She came into this tournament without any expectations, and she is playing great tennis," she said. "To be in the final of a Grand Slam, that takes a lot of hard work. She's won many of these titles - I have a lot to catch up." Clijsters, who will retire at the end of the season and plans to start a family, has lost four semi-finals

here and the 2004 final. "I'm sorry I couldn't come up with a better match today," she said. Williams is now just one game away from an improbable title. In between her win here in 2005 and her run to this year's final, Williams had not beaten at top 10 player and even dropped out of the top 100 at one point last year. By reaching the final, she is expected to surge back into the top 20. "I can't believe it. That's awesome - that was so fast," Williams said. "I'm excited. I have nothing to lose. I'm back in the top 20, that means so much to me." Williams played only four tournaments in 2006, finishing the season 12-4 and without a title. She was the ninth-lowest ranked player to make a Grand Slam semi-final since computer rankings were introduced in 1975.

Maria Sharapova in Australian Open Finals

In a match that lasted 82 minutes, Russian Maria Sharapova beat Belgian Kim Clijsters 6-4 6-2 in the Australian Open Semi-Finals on Thursday. Kim Clijsters, who is only 23, will be retiring at the end of this season. Top seed Sharapova will now play American Serena Williams in the finals. Sharapova said of her next game with Williams: "Serena is playing great tennis & she has won many of these titles before but I will look forward to playing her." Williams beat Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 6-4 in the Semi-Finals to reach the finals.

Maria Sharapova, Clijsters advance to semifinals

Kim Clijsters had another quarterfinal win over Martina Hingis despite a rash of unforced errors, and moved into the Australian Open semifinals against top-seeded Maria Sharapova. Fourth-seeded Clijsters won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday, breaking Hingis' serve in the last game and ending the match with a forehand passing shot. "I wasn't really seeing the ball, the only thing you can do is to work for every point to try to turn things around," said Clijsters, who made 62 unforced errors and dropped serve five times. "I knew it was going to be a tough one. It could have been my last match here, so I'm glad to have one more." Clijsters ended Hingis' remarkable comeback run here in the quarterfinals last year, when the Swiss star was returning from three years off the circuit because of ankle and foot injuries. Hingis had won three straight titles from 1997-99 and then lost three consecutive finals before quitting the first time.

Clijsters has made the semifinals here on every trip since 2002- missing the 2005 tournament because of injuries - but has never won the title. The 23-year-old Belgian plans to retire at the end of this season. Sharapova advanced to the Australian semifinals for the third straight year with a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Anna Chakvetadze, another 19-year-old Russian. Sharapova, assured of gaining the No. 1 ranking next month, had trouble on her serve, double-faulting on break point three times. But she had the only point on serve in the tiebreaker, where the last eight points finished on unforced errors. The US Open champion was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 and wasted a match point with a backhand error in the next game. Sharapova got two more match points in the 12th game and finished it off in 2 hours, 14 minutes when Chakvetadze netted a forehand.

"It was very difficult, I didn't feel like we had a lot of easy rallies," Sharapova said. "I felt I had to work on every point." Sharapova was very inconsistent, smacking clean winners to take one game, then committing glaring mistakes to lose the next. She finished with 32 winners but six double faults and 41 unforced errors and won only three more points than her opponent.

Sharapova, who looks toward her father, Yuri, after almost every point, got a warning for getting coaching from him as she served at 0-30 with the score tied at 2-2 in the second set. She then ran off four straight points to take the game. "I was a little up and down, a bit scratchy," Sharapova said. "I am glad I got through, but next time will even be tougher." Sharapova is into the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the third straight year and is among the last four at a major for the eighth time. She is the defending U.S. Open champion and also won Wimbledon in 2004. Chakvetadze, who had won 20 of her previous 21 matches, had never been beyond the fourth round of a major. In men's quarterfinals later Wednesday, second-seeded Rafael Nadal faced No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Tommy Haas was against No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko.

Maria Sharapova advances to semifinals at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Maria Sharapova advanced to the Australian Open semifinals with a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win Wednesday over Anna Chakvetadze, another 19-year-old Russian. The top-seeded Sharapova, assured of gaining the No. 1 ranking next month, had trouble on her serve, getting broken twice in each set and having to fend off five break points. She was broken when serving for the match at 5-3, giving up the break with a double fault, and wasted a match point with a backhand error in the next game. Sharapova got two more match points in the 12th game of the second set and finished it off in 2 hours, 14 minutes when Chakvetadze netted a forehand. "It was very difficult, I didn't feel like we had a lot of easy rallies," Sharapova said. "I felt I had to work on every point." She had 32 winners and 41 unforced errors, against 14 winners and 28 unforced errors for Chakvetadze. "I was a little up and down, a bit scratchy," Sharapova said. "I am glad I got through, but next time will even be tougher." Sharapova is into the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the third straight year and is among the last four at a major for the eighth time. She is the defending U.S. Open champion and also won Wimbledon in 2004. Chakvetadze, who had won 20 of her previous 21 matches, had never been beyond the fourth round of a major. No. 4 Kim Clijsters of Belgium and three-time champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland were to meet in a quarter-final here for the second consecutive year. Clijsters won at that stage last year, ending Hingis' remarkable run after coming to Melbourne Park with a ranking of 341 following three years in retirement. In men's quarter-finals later Wednesday, second-seeded Rafael Nadal faced No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Tommy Haas of Germany was against No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. On the other side of the draw, American Andy Roddick was ruthless, treating his close friend like little more than warmup fodder for his semifinal showdown with Roger Federer. The 2003 U.S. Open champion flattened American Mardy Fish without blinking Tuesday, making only four unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 quarterfinal win. "I played pretty flawless, I thought," Roddick said. "I feel good going into the semis." Federer, who lost to Roddick in the final of an exhibition tournament 10 days ago but has a 12-1 record in official ATP matches, dropped his serve four times in a 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over No. 7 Tommy Robredo. "The break of serves, they're due to the wind I assume," Federer said. "I had to kind of change my game around a little bit. I think my attacking style really worked out well - I'm really happy to have come through." Federer has been ranked No. 1 since February 2004 and next month he'll break Jimmy Connors' record

of 160 consecutive weeks atop the rankings.

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