Sharapova beats Petra Kvitova and can take the No. 1 ranking in the world if she beats Azarenka in the final Saturday. Azarenka advances with a win over defending champion Kim Clijsters.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova advanced to the Australian Open final and gave herself a chance to regain the No. 1 ranking after beating Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, on Thursday.
Sharapova, the 2008 Australian Open champion, can take the No. 1 ranking if she beats Victoria Azarenka in the final Saturday at Melbourne Park. Caroline Wozniacki, who has held the top ranking for most of the last 15 months, lost in the quarterfinals and will drop from the top spot when new rankings are released by the WTA Tour next week.
Earlier Thursday, Azarenka beat defending champion Kim Clijsters, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Azarenka, seeded No. 3 in the women’s draw, recovered her composure twice during periods when a resurgent Clijsters seemed to have the upper hand, breaking the Belgian’s serve three times in the third set to secure victory in her second appearance in a major semifinal.
Azarenka’s serve deserted her in the second set and Clijsters dictated play with her solid groundstrokes and strong defense.
But after getting the momentum back, it was Clijsters who blinked first in the third set, dropping serve in the second game and again in the fourth. She got two of those service games back, including one when she rallied from 40-0 down and got within 4-3.
But Azarenka rallied immediately, breaking serve. She got triple match point trying to serve out the match and, after a double-fault on her first, she clinched it on an error by Clijsters.
Azarenka dropped her racket and sank to her knees, bent over with her hands covering her face. Clijsters came around the net to congratulate her.
“I felt like my hand is about 200 kilograms and my body is about 1,000 and everything is shaking, but that feeling when you finally win is such a relief. My God, I cannot believe it’s over. I just want to cry,” Azarenka said.
“It was just trying to stay in the moment. Kim really took over the second set and I felt there was nothing I could do. I just tried to regroup.”
Clijsters is a popular player in Australia, where she’s widely known as “Aussie Kim.” The four-time major winner had most of the backing from the crowd on the national holiday in what probably will be her final Australian Open.
Azarenka held her nerve despite the crowd.
“I guess before you all thought I was a mental case. I was just young and emotional,” she said in a courtside interview. “I’m really glad the way I fight, that’s the most thing I’m really proud of. I fight for every ball.”
Clijsters credited Azarenka with increasing maturity.
“The match was very close. There were a few deciding moments where I think I maybe had a little bit of an advantage, in the third set, especially that first game where I had break point,” Clijsters said. “But, you know, she definitely played really well. She was playing very aggressive tennis, moving really well. So she deserved to win at the end.”