Melbourne: Maria Sharapova just keeps getting better at the Australian Open. Two days after ending top-ranked Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak in the quarter-finals, Sharapova outclassed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday to advance to the final on Saturday and a bid for her third Grand Slam singles title.
Sharapova, who lost in the final last year to Serena Williams, will play Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the final..
The 20-year-old Sharapova, who hasn't dropped a set in six matches at Melbourne Park this year, won her first major at Wimbledon in 2004, then added the US Open title in 2006.
She led 5-0 in the opening set before No. 3 Jankovic came back with two service breaks to pull to 5-3.
But Sharapova clinched it on her sixth set point when an attempted drop shot was ripped back across the net and past a stretching Jankovic.
"I had a bit of a letdown, I was too good for my own level," Sharapova said of her first-set lapse. "But I'm really happy to get back in the final."
Sharapova broke Jankovic's serve to open the second set, after which the Serbian player received treatment for an apparent back strain.
Trailing 3-0, Jankovic again had treatment, laying outstretched on a towel while a physiotherapist massaged her lower back area.
Looking increasingly as if she was playing with pain, Jankovic had trouble getting to several balls and Sharapova won the match when Jankovic hit a backhand wide.
The start of the match was delayed for about 10 minutes when rain began falling in the warmup, forcing organisers to close the roof at Rod Laver Arena.
Ivanovic recovers from woeful start
Serbian Ana Ivanovic recovered from a terrible start to beat ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 and reach the Australian Open final on Thursday.
Fourth seed Ivanovic looked frozen with nerves as she dropped the first eight games of the semi-final but as Hantuchova's level dipped, she recovered strongly to set up a final against Sharapova.
Ivanovic was far too tentative at first as Hantuchova, in her first grand slam semi-final, blasted winners on both sides to surge into a 6-0, 2-0 lead.
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The Serbian finally held serve in the third game of the second set and suddenly the match changed as she became more aggressive, cruising through the second set.
Ivanovic saved a break point at 2-3 in the decider and games stayed on serve until the ninth when great scrambling gave the fourth seed the break and she held her nerve to serve out for victory after two hours, 10 minutes.
On Wednesday, Roger Federer talked about the tension and nerves players feel before a Grand Slam semi-final, and with good authority - on Friday he will play in his 15th in a row.
But while it might reassure Novak Djokovic to hear that the man he'll be facing in his first Australian Open semi-final experiences some nerves too, he'd better be wary of the rhetoric.
"I remember when I made my first Grand Slam semi-finals or my finals, I was so nervous," Federer said in an almost confiding tone, after beating James Blake 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
"Now it's been so many that it's almost become some sort of a routine. That's helped me a great deal being able to cope with those moments."
Federer has a brilliant conversion rate, reaching the last 10 Grand Slam finals and winning 12 of the last 18 dating to his first at Wimbledon in 2003.
The momentum and experience gives Federer the edge, he says: "Maybe they blink a little bit in those important moments, whereas maybe usually they wouldn't."
At 26, Federer is the oldest of the men's semi-finalists, and will meet the youngest in 20-year-old Djokovic on Friday.
The third-ranked Djokovic beat No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 to complete a run to the semi-finals at all four majors.
Rafael Nadal, who will play unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the other semi-final, is the longest-serving No. 2 in tennis history, and he's only 21.
Nadal knows something about catching Federer on a bad day in a Grand Slam, though, after beating the Swiss star in the last two French Open finals.
Federer had more to play for against Blake than just his 8-0 record against the American and his bid for a 13th major, which would move him within one of Pete Sampras' record.
One of the anomalies of the rankings is that despite his domination last season - 68-9 with a tour-high eight titles - Federer could have lost the top spot he's held since February 2004.
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Nadal would have taken over if he'd reached the Australian Open final and Federer lost to Blake.
"I heard rumors I could lose it," Federer said, mockingly. "Someone reminded me of it."
With a tiebreaker looming in the first set, Federer was at his usual best under pressure, breaking Blake as he served at 5-6.
Blake saved two set points at 4-5 in the second and three more after falling behind 6-2 in the tiebreaker, but Federer cashed his sixth.
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He was cruising at 5-1 in the third set when Blake ran off three straight games, but Federer finally held to finish.
"I really went in thinking I had a good chance to win," Blake said. "I played pretty well, but he came up with some of his best at the right times, and that was the difference."
It was the same for Djokovic, who had set points against Federer in the US Open final but could not convert them.
Against Ferrer, he was only troubled when it was time to close out, dropping his serve and losing his temper before regaining his composure.
"As the third player of the world, I have a lot of expectations and pressure, and sometimes it's difficult to stay calm on the court," Djokovic said. "I'm working on that. I'm still young and I still need to improve some elements in the game as well as the mental stabilisation."
Things changed for Djokovic when he beat Federer and Nadal en route to the Montreal title in August, then reached the US Open final. He is widely considered a worthy No. 3.
"They were saying the year after a breakthrough year is the most difficult one. But you know, I'm feeling really, really good," Djokovic said. "I'm playing with a lot of confidence.
In the late men's doubles match, two-time defending champions and top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan went down 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5) to Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles in the quarter-finals.
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