Grand Slam Over Career Slam

Tennis Betting Lines

A repeat performance was not meant to be, as Clijsters was wide on match point to end any chance at becoming the eighth woman to repeat as Aussie champion.

 

Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova will square off in Saturday's women's Australian Open final after they both survived tense three-set semifinal matches on Thursday. Azarenka, seeded third, ended Kim Clijsters' run at consecutive Australian Open titles by besting the four-time Grand Slam champion, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, at Rod Laver Arena.

 

After that battle, Sharapova downed second-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to avenge her loss to the Czech in last year's Wimbledon finale.

 

Kvitova beat Sharapova in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam last July, but trailed early against the three-time major titlist on Thursday at Melbourne Park.

 

Sharapova, seeded fourth, lost the second set, and was down 0-30 at 4-4 in the third before a replay reversal gave her new life. The Russian won the next four points to put the pressure back on Kvitova, who could not hold serve thanks to several unforced errors in the final game.

 

The former world No. 1 Sharapova's last major title came at the 2008 Aussie Open. The Russian was the Aussie runner-up in 2007.

 

If this was, in fact, the Belgian's final visit to the season's first major, she went down fighting. Azarenka broke Clijsters' second service game of the match, then fought off four break chances in the proceeding game.

 

Clijsters, the 11th seed, quickly evened the match before falling behind 4-1 in the third. She held serve and trailed 40-0 in the next game before earning another break to get back on serve.

 

But Azarenka, riding a 10-match winning streak after winning in Sydney earlier this month, earned her fourth break of the match to serve for a spot in the final.

 

In the quarterfinals, Clijsters fought off four match points against last year's Aussie runner-up to her, Li Na.

comments

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•    #Djokovic is unsure that #Murray’s new coach, 8 time Grand Slam champion Ivan Lendl, can make an immediate difference in his student’s play!

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•    Does playing grand slam tennis 2 count as working out? Because I'm sweating..

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•    Men's Tennis is now boring....You can predict the last 4 in each grand slam. 1) Djokovic 2) Nadal 3) Federer 4) Murray

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•    I swear Cher Lloyd is trying to make a career out of rhyming 2 words that don't rhyme.

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•    Bethanie Mattek-Sands is into first Grand Slam final, teaming with Horia Tecau to beat Mirza/Bhupathi 6-3, 6-3. #AusOpen

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