A new women’s champion will be crowned in Brisbane when top seeds Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic lock horns on Pat Rafter Arena tonight.
Both are 27, former world No.1s, and French Open champions and are two of the most marketable names in the game.
Sharapova is coming off her equal-best season to date, finishing the year ranked behind only Serena Williams and claiming four titles, including a fifth major – her second French Open crown.
For Ivanovic, it was also a return to the top five on the back of four titles and her win over world No.1 Williams in the Australian Open fourth round was one more than the Russian could manage in 2014.
Sharapova has cut a swathe through her section of the draw, dropping just nine games total in her three matches. It is in stark contrast to Ivanovic, who struggled through a fluctuating three-set quarterfinal against 2012 champion Kaia Kanepi before holding off a determined Varvara Lepchenko on her seventh match point in the semifinals.
Coming into last season, Ivanovic had lost her past six matches against the Russian, but their four meetings were split in 2014.
Sharapova won their most recent match handily on a hardcourt in Beijing, however Ivanovic’s triumph in Cincinnati was a huge mental boost.
“Last year we had really close battles and that match in Cincinnati was actually one of my favourite wins probably because it was a really tough match and I managed to save match points,” Ivanovic said.
The two glamour girls on tour also contested the 2008 Australian Open decider where Sharapova prevailed in straight sets.
“I remember that match, you know, very vividly. I felt like I had a lot of chances in the first set. It was my second grand slam final and I really thought I could do it, you know,” Ivanovic said.
“I didn’t really sleep much after that. That was a tough loss, but it made my stronger.”
A trio of players carrying the “next likely grand slam successor” tag fills three of the four men’s singles semifinal berths.
The other is the player who stands 17 grand slam titles ahead of them, with a record 302 weeks at No.1.
The Japanese juggernaut, Kei Nishikori, is closest of the three to landing that breakthrough. He knocked out Novak Djokovic en route to the US Open final last season and pushed the world No.1 in an ATP World Tour Finals semifinal loss to finish at No.5
The 25-year-old faces 24-year-old Montenegro-born Canadian Milos Raonic in the first of the men’s semifinals and arrives with a 4-1 head-to-head record in his favour including both meetings on hardcourts last year. Diminutive and fleet-footed, Nishikori packs plenty of punch off both wings but may have to bank on making inroads on the towering Raonic’s monster serve in tiebreaks if he is to reach the decider.
Bulgarian world No.11 Grigor Dimitrov will square off against top seed Roger Federer in the second men’s semifinal.
Often likened to the Swiss great for his service motion and free-flowing single-handed backhand, Dimitrov is determined to pave his own route. He won titles on three different surfaces and reached his maiden grand slam semifinal at Wimbledon in 2014. Both survived momentous struggles in their season openers here before putting the foot down in their quarterfinals. Dimitrov has tasted defeat both times they have met before, both on Swiss soil. If the pair can reproduce the kind of confident shot-making they brought to the table in the quarterfinals, fans could be in for a treat.
The other Swiss player mentioned among the greats of the game, Martina Hingis, has made her Brisbane debut this year in her “third career”, partnering Sabine Lisicki in the doubles final.
After a brief stint coaching the German last year the duo teamed up to claim the Miami Masters and will face top seeds and first-time pairing Su-Wei Hsieh, of Taipai and India’s Sania Mirza in just their second final. Hsieh has two slam doubles crowns to her name while Mirza has reached the semifinals at each of the four majors.
In men’s doubles, American pairing Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey meet established British-Australian pairing Jamie Murray and John Peers, a duo through to their second straight Brisbane semifinal. Murray and Peers won a title together in Munich last year, while the US pairing reached a final in Atlanta as well as a pair of semifinals. Nishikori and Alexandr Dolgopolov await in the final.
TICKETS still available. Don’t miss your chance to see Maria Sharapova take on Ana Ivanovic in tonight’s Brisbane International women’s singles final. Tickets are on sale through Ticketek.