Maria Sharapova will face Ana Ivanovic in the women’s singles final of the Brisbane International after she cruised past Ukrainian starlet Elina Svitolina in Friday night’s semi-final.
The tournament’s number one seed showed more great signs ahead of the Australian Open and was largely untroubled in the comprehensive 6-1 6-3 win at Pat Rafter Arena.
Her blistering form will now receive a much sterner test in the form of Ivanovic, the second seed, who had to dig deep to get past American Vavara Lepchenko in the other semi earlier on Friday.
They have met 13 times at WTA level, with Sharapova taking nine wins – including their most recent clash in Beijing last year.
“We certainly know there are no secrets about each other’s games,” Sharapova said.
“But we always go in and compete, we don’t give up until the end. I think that’s what makes our matches so great.
“She had a phenomenal year last year – some of the best results of her career.
“She is a much more confident player than the years before and that’s great to see.”
Ivanovic battled through an abdominal strain to reach the final but expects to recover adequately for Saturday night’s clash.
The two played the 2008 Australian Open final, which Sharapova won 7-5 6-3, a match Ivanovic vividly remembers.
“It was my second grand slam final and I really thought I could do it, you know,” Ivanovic said.
“It was quite disappointing the way the second set finished. I didn’t really sleep much after that.”
Sharapova defeated Yaroslava Shvedova and Carla Suarez-Navarro in straight sets earlier in the Brisbane International and was clearly intent on continuing that ruthless streak against Svitolina.
She drew first blood by breaking the Ukrainian second service game and then slammed her foot down on the accelerator, wrapping up the opener in 30 minutes.
The clean-striking Russian hit 17 winners to five in the first set and rarely put a foot wrong.
Then again, neither did Svitolina but there was little the 20-year-old could do to shake Sharapova in this kind of touch.
A determined Svitolina staged a mini resistance late on, saving four match points to secure back-to-back games and stretch out the second set to nearly an hour.
But it only delayed the inevitable, with world number two Sharapova riding out her opponent’s purple patch to secure victory and set up a tantalising final.
