The New York Times-20080124-Sharapova Reaches the Final Again and Hopes for a Better Outcome

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Sharapova Reaches the Final Again and Hopes for a Better Outcome

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Already vulnerable during the rallies against Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic soon found herself lying face down on a towel, too, as she received treatment on her lower back.

Such a situation might not have been hopeless against last year's Sharapova, the one who was fiddling with her service motion because of shoulder pain and missing short forehands in bunches. But this year's Sharapova is a much more complicated tennis riddle to solve, and on Thursday, she continued her romp through the Australian Open, reaching her second consecutive final here with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over the third-seeded Jankovic.

That lopsided score does not quite do justice to how lackluster the match truly was. Sharapova led by 5-0 after only 22 minutes, and Jankovic had to save five set points before Sharapova closed out the opening set by holding her serve comfortably.

Jelena is always dangerous when she's down, Sharapova said. She's proven that in this tournament. I was happy to be able to close that first set out.

Sharapova also took a 4-0 lead in the second set, continuing to dominate before and after Jankovic left the court for several minutes for treatment for what doctors called a strained lower back. Jankovic, normally a battler with a quick smile, was soon in tears as she sat on her chair during a changeover, trailing by 1-4. And she was still crying as she walked out to return Sharapova's serve, which is hard enough to read when one is seeing clearly.

It was a downbeat end to an upbeat tournament for Jankovic, a Serb who had fought through minor physical problems, saving three match points in the first round and then proving more consistent than the defending champion, Serena Williams, in the quarterfinals.

But her first Australian Open semifinal was a round too far, as Sharapova, a Russian, finished her off in 1 hour 18 minutes and will face the winner of Thursday's second semifinal between fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and ninth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

At 20, Sharapova has already won two Grand Slam singles titles, the first in 2004 at Wimbledon and the second at the United States Open in 2006. After a disappointing year by her standards, she is now a big favorite to win her third after ending Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak with a brilliant performance in the quarterfinals and then dispatching Jankovic in a match in which she rarely needed to use the full range of her improved game. But Sharapova still sounded wary, well aware that she was the favorite last year against Williams in the final and ended up winning only three games.

You have your bad moments in your career and your good moments, said Sharapova, who is seeded fifth. And it's been a good ride so far, but it's not over yet.

It has been a much better tournament for Sharapova and Europe than for the United States. For the first time since 1973, there were no American players in the semifinals of any of the events here, including the men's and women's doubles. The No. 1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan were beaten in the quarterfinals Wednesday night in three sets by Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Mahesh Bhupathi of India.

The last American singles player, James Blake, was beaten again by No. 1 seed Roger Federer in the men's quarterfinals. Federer will now face No. 3 Novak Djokovic, yet another Serb, in a semifinal that has the potential to be much closer than Blake's latest defeat.

Even after winning 12 Grand Slam singles titles, Federer can still catch spectators off guard. It happened when Federer was down by 1-2 in the second-set tie breaker. He had just played a poor defensive point, looking off rhythm and in a mood almost dark enough to match his black socks.

Up he trudged to the service line and then, out of his funk, came nothing less than tennis magic. He half-volleyed a typically huge return from Blake, then easily handled the next parry, a blistering approach shot. Finally, he whipped a forehand passing shot crosscourt for a winner.

Those are the points you like to see on replay later, Federer said.

With no time to think or fret, it had all been about instinct, and just like that, Federer was on his way to a higher level, as if some one had pushed the fast forward button on a DVR. He took the next point, another extended delight, with an overhead winner off a high bouncing lob from Blake that landed near Federer's baseline. Blake put hand to strings and clapped, not nearly as stunned as the 15,000 fans at Rod Laver Arena.

Nothing he does surprises me, Blake said after Federer's 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory. It frustrates me, but nothing surprises me.

Federer has not been at his flowing best here, going five sets with Janko Tipsarevic in the third round and looking edgy at times. Federer plays Djokovic, 20, on Friday and could end with No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who meets the unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the final on Sunday.

Neither Djokovic nor Nadal has lost a set here, and Djokovic beat the fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5, in his quarterfinal match.

[Illustration]PHOTOS: Maria Sharapova, the No. 5 seed, dominated her semifinal match Thursday against No. 3 Jelena Jankovic, top right, winning easily in straight sets. Sharapova advanced to the Australian Open final for the second consecutive year.(PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW BROWNBILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS, RIGHT; MARK BAKER/ASSOCIATED PRESS)