(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-24 15:57

MELBOURNE - Maria Sharapova overwhelmed one Serbian player in the semifinals and will face another for the Australian Open championship.

Sharapova followed her quarterfinal rout of No. 1-ranked Justine Henin with a 6-3, 6-1 semifinal win over third-seeded Jelena Jankovic on Thursday.

Serbia's Ana Ivanovic celebrates winning a point during her semi-final match against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 24, 2008. [Agencies]	Russia's Maria Sharapova celebrates winning her semi-final match against Serbia's Jelena Jankovic at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 24, 2008. [Agencies]

No. 4 Ana Ivanovic rallied to ensure one of the two Serbians advanced from the semifinals, despite losing the first eight games to Daniela Hantuchova.

She recovered the early break in the second set and then, after saving break points in a 10-minute game that went to deuce seven times, got another crucial break in the third.

Hantuchova dumped a routine volley into the net on break point in the ninth game of the deciding set to give Ivanovic, who had scrambled to stay in the point, a chance to serve for the match.

Ivanovic won it 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours, 10 minutes when Hantuchova put a forehand into the net on match point.

Sharapova was more convincing.

Two days after ending Henin's 32-match winning streak, she outclassed Jankovic to advance to the final Saturday and a bid for her third Grand Slam singles title.

Sharapova is using the humbling 6-1, 6-2 loss to Serena Williams in last year's Australian final as motivation this time.

"You have your bad moments in your career and you have your good moments, and it's been a good ride so far," she said. "But it's not over yet.

"In a Grand Slam where I've had good success but some tough endings, I still believe at the end I'll always have more opportunities."

The 20-year-old Sharapova, who hasn't dropped a set in six matches at Melbourne Park this year, won her first major at Wimbledon in 2004, then added the U.S. Open title in 2006.

She led 5-0 in the first before Jankovic fended off three set points to hold her first game, earning a big cheer from a crowd that had been stunned by Sharapova's early domination.

She broke Sharapova in the next game, aided by a pair of double-faults from the Russian, then saved two more set points in the next game to pull within 5-3.

Sharapova, her high-pitched grunts sounding more like shrieks, pounded the ball even harder, smacking an ace to set up her sixth set point, then getting to a drop shot for a clean winner. She made up for getting only 46 percent of her first serves in during the set by hitting 20 winners to just three for Jankovic.

"I had a bit of a letdown, I was too good for my own level," Sharapova said of her first-set lapse. "But I'm really happy to get back in the final."

Sharapova broke Jankovic's serve to open the second set, when the Serbian player received treatment for an apparent back strain. Trailing 3-0, Jankovic again had treatment, laying outstretched on a towel while a physiotherapist massaged her lower back area.

"I wanted to withdraw, but it was a semifinal," Jankovic said.

The start of the match was delayed for about 10 minutes when rain began falling in the warmup, forcing organizers to close the roof at Rod Laver Arena.

Ivanovic is into her second Grand Slam final after losing the French Open decider to Henin.

She said it only the crowd that kept her in it after Hantuchova's amazing start.

"If it wasn't for you guys, I would already be booking my flight back home," she said.

The second match started as a near-replay, disappointing fans from Melbourne's large Serbian community, who had arrived with hopes for an all-Serbian women's final, then faced the prospect of neither Jankovic nor Ivanovic advancing.

Although she has reached at least the semifinals in three of the last four Grand Slams and Hantuchova advanced this far for the first time in 29 majors, Ivanovic looked like the tentative newcomer at the start, appearing to have a letdown after beating Venus Williams in the last round.

Ivanovic repeatedly tried to psyche herself up without success as she won only nine points in the first set. Hantuchova had her constantly sprinting from side to side with sharp groundstrokes mixed with well-placed spins that kept Ivanovic from finding any rhythm.

When Ivanovic finally held for her first game while already down 0-2 in the second set, the crowd erupted in cheers of sympathetic relief.

The small victory provided just what she needed - a jolt of confidence.

Finally hitting with authority, Ivanovic broke back to get on serve, then again to pull ahead 5-3 when Hantuchova, suddenly looking vulnerable, double-faulted on break point. Ivanovic held at love, and what had been a rout in the making was even with a set to go.

Hantuchova shockingly blinked while serving at 4-4. She fended off one break point at 15-40 and set herself up to save the second with a drop volley. Ivanovic scrambled to keep it in play but was out of court when Hantuchova netted an easy volley.

No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal was to play unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a night semifinal on the men's side.

Roger Federer, seeking a third consecutive Australian title and 13th major, will play No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the other semifinal on Friday.