Former champion Serena Williams clawed her way back from the brink to beat fourth seed Maria Sharapova 2-6 7-5 8-6 on Thursday, avenging her Wimbledon defeat and reaching the Australian Open final.



Sharapova, who beat the former world number one in last year's Wimbledon and WTA Tour Championships final, served for the match in the second and third sets of a tense semi-final.



Williams, the 2003 champion, broke the 17-year-old Russian both times, desperately saving three matc...

On Thursday Maria will play seventh seed Serena Williams of the United States for a final spot. This match is the second match at Rod Laver Arena and will not start before 1:30 PM local time (GMT +11).



Maria has played Serena three times before and leads the series 2-1, winning last two matches (Wimbledon / WTA Tour Championships Finals).

QUESTION:
Match point there, how much did you have left in the tank?


MARIA SHARAPOVA:
Just enough to win that match point, that's it.



QUESTION:
Do you get a sense of who was feeling the heat more, yourself or your opponent?


MARIA SHARAPOVA:
It was hard to think about anything else except yourself. I was just trying to tell myself mentally just to get through it....

Maria Sharapova drew on new-found resolve as she fought back to beat fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6 6-2 6-2 on Tuesday to reach the Australian Open semi-finals for the first time.



Kuznetsova, 19, dominated the first set against a tentative and error-prone Sharapova but the match soon became a mental and physical battle to see who could endure scorching heat which hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on Rod Laver Arena.



"I need a wheelchair right now," said...

On tuesday Maria will play compatriot and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the semi finals. This match is the first match at Rod Laver Arena and the schedule starts at 11.00 local time (GMT +11).



Maria won last match against Kuznetsova at the WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles 6-1 6-4, but Kutznetsova still leads the series 2-1.