Scream queens Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka will joust for the Australian Open crown and world No.1 ranking after battling in two enthralling semi-finals on Thursday.

Tennis’s two maligned shriekers will clash in a high-decibel championship decider on Saturday night after Sharapova gained sweet revenge over Petra Kvitova and Azarenka ended Kim Clijsters’ popular title reign at Melbourne Park.

Sharapova, the 2008 Open champion and 2007 runner-up, outlasted second seed Kvitova 6-2 3-6 6-4 in an absorbing rematch of their 2011 Wimbledon final which the Czech won to collect her first grand slam title.

Azarenka earlier reached her maiden grand slam final with a spirited 6-4 1-6 6-3 semi-final victory in what Clijsters later confirmed to Belgian journalists was her farewell match in Australia before she retires for a second and presumably last time at the end of the year.

Incredibly, both semi-finals lasted precisely two hours and 12 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

Sharapova held her nerve to recover from love-30 down in the pivotal ninth game of the deciding set to hold and then break Kvitova to book a berth in her third final in Melbourne.

The Russian credited her renowned competitive spirit for making her sixth grand slam final – three years after requiring career-threatening shoulder surgery to her serving arm.

“I love this sport,” Sharapova said.

“It means so much to be back in a grand slam final.

“This is obviously what I train for and why I go out on the court and try to improve for moments like this.

“You have them four times a year and these are the big ones for us, the important ones.

“It’s really where you kind of have to find a way to win and step up when it really matters.

“Today was just a good example of that for me. I felt like I was down and out.”

The 24-year-old, who won Wimbledon when she was just 17, conceded she feared for her future after undergoing the knife.

“As positive as I always try to be, you always question what you’re doing, obviously, because sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t,” Sharapova said.

“And especially just with the shoulder. I knew some examples of some people that did not quite recover from surgery and that was a little frightening.”

In an equally high-quality encounter, Azarenka resisted a second-set comeback from the 11th seed before asserting her dominance and nervously serving out her semi-final.

An emotional Azarenka admitted she became jittery while holding three match points for a spot in the final and first-time grand slam showdown with Sharapova.

The 22-year-old wasted one with a double-fault and a wry smile crossed her face as she missed her first serve on her second match point.

But the contest was all over when Clijsters sprayed a return out of court.

“I felt like my hand is about 200kg and my body is about 1000kg and everything is shaking,” Azarenka said.

“But that feeling when you finally win is such a relief. It’s like ‘Oh my God, I cannot believe it’s over’.

“I just want to cry.”

Azarenka will carry an 11-match winning streak into the title decider after also taking out the Sydney International lead-up event.

Long touted as a major winner in the making, Azarenka finally feels ready to deliver – almost nine years after making her WTA Tour debut as a precocious 14-year-old back in 2003.

Azarenka famously squandered a set and 4-0 lead over Serena Williams in the 2010 Open quarter-finals and readily admits to only really maturing mentally in the past 12 months.

“Before, you all thought I was a mental case. I was just young and emotional,” Azarenka said.

With Caroline Wozniacki falling to Clijsters in the quarter-finals, Azarenka or Sharapova – who are 3-3 head-to-head – will displace the Dane as world No.1 next Monday, as well as collecting the $2 million winner’s cheque on Saturday.

Sharapova has already enjoyed four previous stints atop the rankings, for a total of 10 weeks between 2005 and 2008.