Victoria Azarenka's exceptional power and solid athleticism have long promised to get her to a major final, and with crucial help from her improved mental toughness, they fulfilled that promise on Thursday, as she defeated defending champion Kim Clijsters 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. On Saturday, she will meet Maria Sharapova, whose ticket to the final was a tough 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Petra Kvitova.
Victoria's set scores against Kim reveal one of the keys to her chances against Maria. She'll almost certainly hit at least one wild patch like her second set against Kim; if it's brief and singular, she'll have a good chance; otherwise, the steelier Maria will take advantage too well. Maria can be streaky, but she rarely goes off as badly or as long as the other huge power hitters on the WTA Tour, three of whom were the other semi-finalists. Maria shouldn't make as many unforced errors as Victoria, but she also can't defend as well, so Victoria may have more winners. A key for both women will be the first serve percentage; a key for Victoria especially will be controlling her nerves.
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