Sharapova advances to final

MELBOURNE, Australia -- 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 quarterfinals, Sharapova outclassed Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday to advance to the final Saturday and a bid for her third Grand Slam singles title.

Sharapova, beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Serena Williams in last year's final, will play the winner of Thursday's second semifinal between another Serbian player, Ana Ivanovic, and Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.

She is using that humbling and decisive defeat 12 months ago as motivation this time.

"You have your bad moments in your career and you have your good moments, and it's been a good ride so far," she said. "But it's not over yet.

"In a Grand Slam where I've had good success but some tough endings, I still believe at the end I'll always have more opportunities."

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 U.S. Open title in 2006.

She led 5-0 in the first before Jankovic fended off three set points to hold her first game, earning a big cheer from a crowd that had been stunned by Sharapova's early domination.

She broke Sharapova in the next game, aided by a pair of double-faults from the Russian, then saved two more set points in the next game to pull within 5-3.

Sharapova, her high-pitched grunts sounding more like shrieks, pounded the ball even harder, smacking an ace to set up her sixth set point, then getting to a drop shot for a clean winner. She made up for getting only 46 percent of her first serves in during the set by hitting 20 winners to just 3 for 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, when 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.

"I wanted to withdraw, but it was a semifinal," Jankovic said.

The start of the match was delayed for about 10 minutes when rain began falling in the warmup, forcing organizers to close the roof at Rod Laver Arena.

Roger Federer talked about the tension and nerves players feel before a Grand Slam semifinal, 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 semifinal experiences some nerves too, he'd better be wary of the rhetoric.

"I remember when I made my first Grand Slam semifinals 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 reached the last 10 Grand Slam finals and won 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 semifinalists, 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 semifinals at all four majors.

Rafael Nadal, who will play unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the other semifinal, 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. 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."

Blake said he "went in thinking I had a good chance to win,"

"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 U.S. Open final but could not convert them.

Against Ferrer, Djokovic 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," said Djokovic, who beat Federer and Nadal to win the Montreal title in August. "I'm working on that."

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 quarterfinals.