Russian teenager Maria Sharapova became the second-youngest woman in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday when she launched a stunning fightback to defeat former champion Lindsay Davenport of the United States 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.
The 17-year-old, playing her first Grand Slam semifinal, recovered from a set and 3-1 down to pull off a spectacular win to set up a Saturday final showdown against either two-time defending champion Serena Williams of the US or French fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo.
It was a memorable fightback by the Russian girl who was completely outplayed by the 1999 champion in the first set-and-a-half and had the rain not forced the players off centre court with the 28-year-old Davenport leading 2-1 in the second set, Sharapova may well have quickly capitulated.
But under bright sunshine, the 13th seed sparked her miracle comeback to move into the final, the second-youngest to date to do so behind Martina Hingis, who achieved the feat on her way to the title in 1997.
The Russian blonde’s early nerves were not helped by having to come off centre court after just two points of the first set of the semifinal because of rain and when the players returned, the tone of the match was set.
Davenport, who beat Steffi Graf in 1999 to take the title and was playing her 15th Grand Slam semifinal, dominated from the outset, breaking her 13th seeded opponent in the first game and again in the seventh before wrapping up the first set in just 25 minutes.
The American’s success was based on a consistently successful first serve and trademark swooping groundstrokes that allowed her to control the pace of the tie.
In the opener, she gave up just six points on her service. It was more of the same in the second set with Davenport, playing in her 45th career Grand Slam tournament, breaking for the early advantage.
The Russian, who showed occasional flashes of her ability with dramatic running forehands and backhands hit from the baseline, then had to fight off another break point to go 1-2 down.
She gained some respite when the rain sent them off centre court after 39 minutes of play.
The tie resumed almost an hour later and, after falling 1-3 down, Sharapova eventually converted only her second break point of the match to pull the set level at 3-3 and to kick off her fightback.
With her trademark grunt now operating at maximum volume, she held off a break point to go 6-5 before Davenport took the set to a tie break but the Russian seized her chance to level the tie on her third set point with a blistering backhand drive down the line after 80 minutes.
By this stage, Sharapova was well on top. Davenport, who was also runner-up in 2000, was broken in the opening game of the final set when she hit an untidy forehand long and then slipped 2-0 behind in the next game.
It could have been 3-0 had Sharapova converted another break point but Davenport clung on.
However, on her next service game, Davenport watched an 136kph forehand return roar past her and she knew the match was slipping away as Sharapova found herself 4-1 in front.
The teenager served to love to go 5-1 and capped her fightback and clinched victory after one hour and 53 minutes when a hopelessly disspirited Davenport hit long. — Sapa-AFP