Sharapova Sparks Federer From Champion

Tennis Betting Lines

Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The biggest match to this point at the 2012 Australian Open will occur Thursday (3:30 a.m. et) when former world No. 1s Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer lock horns in a semifinal showdown at Rod Laver Arena, as the two all-time greats will renew arguably the greatest rivalry in modern tennis. The 25-year-old Nadal and 30-year-old Federer will meet for a 27th time on the ATP World Tour, with the gritty Spaniard leading the all-time series, 17-9. Nadal is 7-2 in their Grand Slam matchups, including wins in their last four such encounters.

 

Nadal is a 10-time major champ and the reigning French Open titlist. Federer, who will appear in his 30th Grand Slam semifinal, is a men's record 16-time Grand Slam winner, including a men's Open Era record-tying four Aussie championships.

 

Federer, who hasn't won a Grand Slam event since titling here in Melbourne two years ago, has yet to drop a set at this latest Aussie fortnight and will appear in his ninth straight Aussie semi on Thursday.

 

The 22-year-old became the first Belarusian woman to reach a Grand Slam final since Natasha Zvereva did so at Roland Garros in 1988 when she was representing U.S.S.R.

 

If this was, in fact, the Belgian's final visit to the season's first major, she went down fighting. Azarenka broke Clijsters' second serve 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 breaking to get back on serve.

 

In the quarterfinals, Clijsters fought off four match points against last year's Aussie runner-up Li Na before pulling out the three-set victory.

 

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) - Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka will square off in the Australian Open final after they each 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.

 

The winner of Saturday's finale will become the new World No. 1, supplanting Clijsters' quarterfinal victim, Caroline Wozniacki. Sharapova has not held the top ranking since the week of June 8, 2007.

comments

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•    Happy Aussie Day to all my Boyz down under!!! XXXO

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•    Maria sharapova is just amazing.. hope to see her in person..she's an icon..=)

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•    Wah Final Australia Open tunggal putri Victoria Azarenka vs Maria Sharapova baru besok ya, mau nonton nih *-*

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•    Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible. (Russell)

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•    Ready forma te match Djokovic vs Murray #australianopen

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•    Muchos conocedores (?) concluyen que Federer se bloquea contra Nadal, que el español le tiene comida la moral al Suizo...Como el Barca al RM

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•    Sweet, Kim Clijsters was at #fedal match. Things you don't get pointed out with Patrick McEnroe vs. MartIna. OMG, Feli + Wilson advert <3

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•    Terminando de ver un Partidazo! Elena Dementieva vs Kim Clijsters Filderstadt 2005... Nostalgia

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•    Most off the mutants in X-Men aren't even from America

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•    Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi! Hope everyone enjoyed Australia Day.

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