A fourth grand slam crown, not the No.1 ranking, will be driving Russia’s Maria Sharapova when she meets Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in Saturday night’s Australian Open women’s final.
The winner will on Monday take over the No.1 spot, to be vacated by Dane Caroline Wozniacki, after her quarter-final exit.
But Sharapova, who has spent time at No.1 and has also experienced major triumphs at Wimbledon in 2004, the 2006 US Open and the 2008 Australian Open, said she had no doubt which meant more.
“Having been in the (No.1) position before, that doesn’t really matter to me,” Sharapova said.
“Personally, for me, it’s more about the grand slam win than the No.1 ranking.
“That’s just always been the goal for me.”
Azarenka has not experienced either, with Saturday night’s clash to be the current world No.3’s first grand slam final.
But having lost to Czech Petra Kvitova in last year’s Wimbledon final, in what was her opponent’s first major final, Sharapova said she was not counting on that being an issue for Azarenka either.
“Even though Victoria hasn’t really been in that stage of a grand slam before, she’s certainly won big titles and she has the experience,” Sharapova said.
“This is a stage she’s wanted to be at for a long time, so I do expect her to play really good tennis.”
Earlier on Saturday, Australia’s only chance at a Melbourne Park triumph will come in the boys’ singles final.
Australia’s No.1 seed Luke Saville, who lost last year’s junior final, will play unseeded Canadian Filip Peliwo.
The women’s final will be followed by the men’s doubles final, when the USA’s Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, will vie for their fourth straight Australian Open title and sixth in seven years.
The Bryans will take on India’s Leander Paes and Czech Radek Stepanek.
The men’s singles final will be held on Sunday night, between world No.1 Novak Djokovic and No.2 Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic secured his place on Saturday night with an extremely hard-fought 6-3 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-5 semi-final win over Britain’s Andy Murray, which took four hours and 50 minutes.
