skirmishes earlier in the day when top seed Williams brushed aside teenager Madison Keys, the latest member of ‘generation next’ trying to steal her crown.
Williams was pushed hard by her 19-year-old challenger in a duel between two of the game’s hardest hitters before triumphing 7-6(5), 6-2 to reach her first Melbourne Park final in five years.
Keys burnished her credentials as the next torchbearer for American tennis, defiantly saving eight match points as her opponent roared in frustration before Williams sealed the contest with an ace down the middle.
“She’s obviously a great player,” Williams said courtside, still suffering a cold and breaking into coughs.
“I think she’s going to be winning this tournament very soon and lots of other grand slams.
“I was really happy to see her do so well and be such a great sport at the same time.”
Williams, who retains her world number one ranking by reaching the final, will face the woman she has tormented for over a decade in 27-year-old Sharapova, who trounced Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2 in the first semi-final.
Five-times grand slam champion Sharapova will be hoping a 15-match losing streak against her American nemesis, stretching back to 2004, will have no bearing come Saturday.
Sharapova, a 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, lost to Williams in the 2007 final and again in the final at the 2013 French Open.
Most streaks are eventually broken and Sharapova, fit and in ominous form, took heart from her win over Makarova.
“I think my confidence should be pretty high going into a final of a grand slam no matter who I’m facing against and whether I’ve had a terrible record, to say the least, against someone,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot.”
As with her quarter-final trouncing of Eugenie Bouchard, Sharapova’s game-plan was devastatingly simple — winding up the forehand and bludgeoning anything remotely short of the baseline.
Sharapova will be busy before Saturday’s final working out how to beat Williams.
“I think her power and her aggressiveness, I think that’s always made me a little bit too aggressive, maybe going for a little bit more than I had to,” said the Russian, whose overall win-loss record agaist Williams stands at 2-16.
“She’s great at making players hit that shot that you don’t necessarily have to go for. “It’s been a really difficult matchup for me but I am a competitor.”