Azarenka, Sharapova make Australian final

MELBOURNE, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova each claimed three-set wins Thursday in advancing to the finals of the Australian Open.

Azarenka, seeded third, got past defending champion Kim Clijsters 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 before Sharapova defeated second-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Sharapova will be looking for her fourth Grand Slam title but first since she won the Australian Open in 2008. Azarenka will be in her first major tournament title match.

Also at stake is the world No. 1 ranking, which will go to the winner of Saturday's final. Sharapova was last No. 1 on June 8, 2008. Azarenka would become the 21st woman to reach the top ranking if she wins.

Azarenka won one fewer point (91-90) than Clijsters, the No. 11 seed, but that was due to the second-set drop off. In that set Azarenka didn't manage a break-point chance while Clijsters was taking 67 percent of the points in the second.

But in the other two sets she was 4-of-11 on break opportunities while Clijsters had one break in each set.

Sharapova avenged her loss to Kvitova at the 2011 Wimbledon final by cashing in all five of her break chances. That includes a pair of third-set breaks to take the match.

It was far from a clean match for Sharapova, who had 30 unforced errors and 10 double faults against 18 winners.

Sharapova and Azarenka have split their previous six meetings. Azarenka won both times, however, when she played Sharapova in tournament finals.