Last year's finalist routs ailing Jankovic will face Ivanovic for Slam title. A year after losing the Australian Open final in embarrassing fashion to Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova is looking unstoppable in her quest for a third Grand Slam singles title.
But if it doesn’t happen in Saturday’s final at Melbourne Park against Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, she won’t lose too much sleep over it.
“From the beginning of the tournament, you want to go a step further than you’ve done in the past,” Sharapova said after her 6-3, 6-1 semifinal win over Jelena Jankovic on Thursday.
On Saturday, she’s up against an opponent with one previous final. Ivanovic lost to Henin in last year’s French Open title match and is seeded No. 4, a spot ahead of Sharapova.
The two have plenty in common. Both stand over 6 feet and hit right-handed with two-handed backhands. Both moved from their home countries to train elsewhere — Sharapova from Siberia to Florida and Ivanovic from Belgrade to Switzerland.Both are 20, born seven months apart in 1987. And they’re all-square at 2-2 in career head-to-head matches — including Ivanovic’s win over Sharapova in the French Open semifinal last year and Sharapova’s victory over the Serbian player in a round-robin match at the WTA Tour championships in November.
In both cases, the losing player in each of those matches won only three games. If one is hot, often the other is not.
Both her next and previous opponents agree Sharapova is hot.
“Maria has had a good tournament ... beating Justine in two sets,” said Ivanovic. “It’s going to be definitely a very, very tough match.”
Jankovic was impressed as well, particularly after Sharapova won the first five games of Thursday’s match.
“Everything she hit, each strike was amazing,” said Jankovic. “Even when she was late or whatever, it was all going in. She didn’t make a mistake. She was just on a roll.”
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