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By Erik Gudris
Victoria Azarenka
(January 25, 2012) -- Even a squadron of jets doing flyovers across the sky above Rod Laver Arena to celebrate Australia Day couldn’t quite drown out the loud screams coming from the court below as the four women semifinalists battled it out for a spot in the finals. Both matches featured three players with a chance to become the new No. 1 in the world while another was hoping to postpone her final bow down under for another day.

The first semifinal between Victoria Azarenka and defending champion Kim Clijsters featured heavy hitting from both players though Azarenka played with more aggression especially attacking Clijsters' second serve forcing the Belgian to rely on her defense more often than she liked. Azarenka jumped out to an early break and though Clijsters had a chance to break back, she failed to do so allowing the Berlarusian to serve out the first set 6-4.

But in an abrupt turnaround, Azarenka lost touch with her usually steady backhand, hitting three errors in a row on her favorite shot to give Clijsters an early break in the second. Spurred on by the partisan crown, Clijsters amped up her own aggression while Azarenka’s game completely fell apart allowing Clijsters to romp through the second set 6-1. But Azarenka didn’t panic and instead returned to attacking Clijsters’s serve which forced an early break. Clijsters struck back though when Azarenka, up 40-0 at 4-2, had six chances to hold serve but instead succumbed and gave the break back. But that game took so much out of Clijsters that she dropped serve on the next game. Despite showing some nerves of her own. Azarenka served out the match 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 and fell to her knees in relief at reaching her first ever Major final.

With the crowd exhausted from the first semi, the rematch of the Wimbledon final between Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova took almost two sets to build to any sort of drama. Sharapova came out firing while Kvitova looked sluggish and created more errors than winners. Sharapova rolled through the first set 6-2, but when Kvitova cracked a forehand return winner early in the second set, it appeared she was finally awake and ready to contend for the final.

Kvitova found her serve at last while Sharapova's level dropped just enough to allow the Czech to break her early and march through the second set 6-3. The third set had both players holding their ground but not their serves as they exchanged breaks early. But after a marathon 3-all game that Sharapova finally held serve on to go up 4-3, the momentum seemed to be on Kvitova’s side as she held for 4-all and then opened up a 0-30 lead on Sharapova's next service game. On the next point, a Sharapova forehand was called long but a Hawk-Eye review showed it clipped the line. That reprieve allowed Sharapova a chance to hold serve which she did for 5-4. When it was Kvitova’s turn to serve, the Czech seemed to let the pressure get to her as she played a loose game to give Sharapova two match points that the Russian capitalized on when a Kvitova forehand sailed long giving Sharapova a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win.

Azarenka and Sharapova will now meet in the Women's Final on Saturday to not only determine a new Australian Open champion but the new No. 1 player in the world.

(Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve)

 

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