Maria Sharapova will shoot for her first US Open title after upsetting world number one Amelie Mauresmo in the semi-finals on Friday. Sharapova will on Saturday face Justine Henin-Hardenne, who reached her fourth grand slam final of the year by beating 19th-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic 4-6 6-4 6-0.
Third seed Sharapova struck 20 winners, double the number from her opponent, to win 6-0 4-6 6-0 and reach the second grand slam final of her career. "I thought I played really smart," the Russian told reporters. "I wasn't making errors at the wrong times. I started off the match really well. I put pressure on her. I took my chances."
Mauresmo, the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, played a miserable first set and won just seven points in the third before admitting she was suffering from tiredness.
"But give all the credit to her," the 27-year-old Frenchwoman told reporters. "She played a good match. I didn't play the way I wanted to. Even when I won the second set, I didn't really feel like things were going the way I wanted them to."
When the top seed secured her only service break in the last game of the second set, she leaped in the air and pumped her fist but she was unable to keep the momentum going.
"It was tough to get broken in that last game of the second set," the 19-year-old Sharapova said. "She just played some good tennis. But I hung in there." Five-times grand slam winner Henin-Hardenne has a 4-1 record against Sharapova and has beaten her four times in a row.
"I had a terrible record against Amelie (0-3) and that ended today," Sharapova said. "And I have a terrible record against Justine. "So I hope that's a good luck charm at the Open and I will turn it around tomorrow."
Appearing in her first grand slam semi-final, the 21-year-old Jankovic played aggressively and took advantage of a sub-par performance by Henin-Hardenne to lead by a set and 4-2.
But after double-faulting on her serve for a 5-2 lead, nerves got the better of the Serbian who lost 10 straight games and the match. "I was pretty nervous at the beginning of the match. I wasn't in good rhythm," said the Belgian second seed, who will supplant Mauresmo as world number one if she beats Sharapova.
"She was playing terrific at that time. She was just on fire." But the 24-year-old said that when she trimmed Jankovic's second-set lead to 5-4 she felt much better.
"I was feeling free," she said. "I was playing my game. In the third set, I played really well. I came back a little bit from nowhere, but it's the kind of match that I probably would have lost in the past."
An emotional Jankovic said she self-destructed after arguing with the chair umpire over a line call and watching Henin-Hardenne hold her back in apparent pain. "I don't know what she was doing, but she was acting like she had pain in her back, and she was trying to start me thinking or something.
"I was looking at her, and she was, 'Oh, I have pain in my back.' That's the time when she was losing. Then when she was winning, all of a sudden she's hitting the biggest serves ever." Jankovic, however, admitted that losing her concentration was her own fault. "I'll learn from my mistakes," she said. "I am young and I hope the next time I won't make the same mistake."
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