Serena and Sharapova Set Up Epic Aussie Open Final

The first Grand Slam final of the year will feature the top two players in the world on the women’s side, as both Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova bullied their ways into the Australian Open title match.

Sharapova played the earlier match in Melbourne and took on fellow Russian, 10th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova. The world number two raced out to leads in each set, which allowed her to put it in cruise control, wrapping up the 6-3, 6-2 semifinal victory in 87 minutes.

Entering the contest with a 5-0 record against Makarova, Sharapova wanted to instill that superiority early and broke early on in the second game to race out to a 3-0 advantage. Even though Makarova would break back and bring it to 3-4, she fumbled a service game and allowed Sharapova to roll off the final two games and close out the set.

Sharapova carried that momentum into the second set and quickly built a 4-0 advantage. From there, each player held serve in the final four games which gave Sharapova the comfortable straight-set victory.

“It’s really special,” said Sharapova. “You work really hard for these two weeks and fight through some tough matches, some tough situations, and you come from behind in some of them—for me really behind in one of them, saving two match points in the second-round.”

Sharapova has been a different player since that second-round match. She fought back from 1-4 in the third-set against fellow Russian Alexandra Panova, and had to save two match points to escape with the win. She hasn’t dropped a set since.

“It wasn’t my best performance in that match, but I just fought through it, and I came out of that match knowing I could raise my level,” said Sharapova of the second-round contest. “After I got out of that one I felt like I was given a second chance at this tournament—I don’t know why, but I’ll take my chances now.”

Sharpova now moves into the 10th Grand Slam final of her career, and will meet a familiar foe, world number one Serena Williams.

Serena battled American teenager Madison Keys, who put the world on notice with her performance in Melbourne over the last two weeks. The first set was a hard-fought one, as each player got one break point and held serve the rest of the way, sending it into a tie-break.

In the breaker, Serena got a mini-break and closed out the opening set 7-6(5).

Serena would break in the opening game and race out to a 5-1 lead. Taking advantage of unforced errors from Keys, who was playing aggressively and confidently, Serena was able to build a huge advantage. Keys would save seven match points but the deficit was just too much to overcome as Serena won 7-6(5), 6-2.

“I was a little frustrated at the end—I had so many match points and just couldn’t close it out, and that doesn’t usually happen,” said Serena. “But in retrospect, she was playing very well. She served so well. I’m a really big fan of hers. She’s so awesome, she’s so positive, just a great player.

It was an honor for me to play someone who will be ranked number one in the future.”

Serena carries in a dominant record versus Sharapova. She is 16-2 in the all-time head-to-head matchup, including winning the last 15 matches between the two. Despite the history, Serena knows she is in for a challenge.

“Everyone’s going to expect me to win, but Maria is playing unbelievable,” said Serena. “She was almost out of the tournament and came back, and she’s playing better in every single match. I think it’s good number one and number two will be in the final—it’ll be an exciting match.”