Maria Sharapova saved her best tennis for last, sweeping a second-set tiebreak 7-0 against France's Tatiana Golovin to book her return to the US Open semi-finals on Wednesday.
The Russian third seed, who struggled with her serve for much of the match, beat Golovin 7-6 7-6 in the two hour, 11-minute quarter-final, claiming the first-set tiebreaker 7-4.
Sharapova's triumph sets up a semi-final showdown with top seed Amelie Mauresmo, the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion who advanced with a straight-sets win over Russian Dinara Safina.
"She's definitely the player to beat right now," Sharapova said of Mauresmo. "Honestly, I don't have anything to lose going into this match. She's number one in the world.
"She's won two majors this year. She's got all the confidence in the world. All I want to do is just go out there and enjoy the moment of it. "Hey, if I take my chances and just go out there and enjoy it, I can come up with a win." Golovin, who has lost to Sharapova in all four of their career meetings, said it was the 19-year-old Russian's toughness that set her apart.
"I definitely think that separates her, how she handles mentally the tough situations," said Golovin. "She's really tough. I remember from the other matches, even if you're up, she never gives up. "She actually even plays better when she's down. I think one of her biggest weapons is definitely her mental side of the game." Sharapova and Golovin each had their serve broken three times in the opening set and twice in the second.
Golovin, 18, never had a chance in the second set tie-breaker. "I think I just kind of lost my focus," she said. "She hit a couple good shots and I was never really able to get back into it. "She's really tough out there. It's hard to come back when you're, you know, three, four, five-love down. I tried my best."