After 12 days of sizzling action at Australian Open 2008, the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup will be awarded to the winner of the women's singles final between Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova on Saturday.
Russian No.5 seed Sharapova has advanced to her second Melbourne Park decider in 12 months and she will have atonement and revenge on her mind when she clashes with Serbian No.4 seed Ivanovic for the fifth time in their careers.
A year ago when she was the tournament's No.1 seed, Sharapova was blasted off the court by unseeded American Serena Williams in the final, but she's dropped just 24 games in winning all of her matches so far in straight sets.
In their four previous clashes the ledger stands at 2-2 and while Sharapova won the most recent of them at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships last year, Ivanovic denied her a place in the 2007 French Open final with a 6-2 6-1 demolition.
A look at the three most recent battles between the pair shows three one-sided contests, with Ivanovic winning the first set 6-1 before Sharapova retired in Tokyo last year and Sharapova conceding only three games at the Tour Championships.
But while Sharapova has already won two Grand Slam titles from three final appearances in her career, at Wimbledon in 2004 and the US Open in 2006, the slightly younger Ivanovic is less experienced in terms of major finals.
Her only previous appearance was at Roland Garros last year when she was steamrolled by Belgian Justin Henin, and things looked to be heading that way again in the semi-final on Thursday when she lost the first set to love and trailed 0-2 in the second.
But having fought back to eventually beat Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in three sets, Ivanovic will be able to draw on that performance if she again finds herself behind, and will probably enjoy more crowd support having been adopted by many of the locals.
Speaking on Friday, Sharapova denied that the result of the 2007 Australian Open final or her French Open semi-final loss against Ivanovic will be a factor in the result while also lauding how far Ivanovic has come in the past year.
"(I'm feeling) really good," Sharapova told reporters. "I feel really excited. I'm glad I get the chance to go out there again in the final and give myself another opportunity to be the champion here. I'm not going to worry about that (last year's result)."
"It's definitely great to see (Ivanovic's rise) because, you know, not only do you have to get up there and kind of prove yourself that you're one of the top players, but you have to maintain that level."
"It's great to see new names coming up that are doing well, that are bringing excitement and whatever it is, glamour, to the sport. Even to bring fans that are not just tennis fans, but other fans into the sport, is wonderful."
Just as she has said all the way through the tournament, Ivanovic is hoping to remain focussed throughout the match, having learned plenty from her experiences at Roland Garros, but she knows it won't be easy against Sharapova.
"I was in that situation once before and I know I was very emotional and I experienced lot of things during that final," she said. "That's something I have to take from it as a positive. Tomorrow, when I walk on the court, I know a little bit what to expect."
"So in that way I can deal with it. But, you know, I just don't want to get emotional. I want to just focus on my game and what I have to do, you know, to play like I played my previous matches and just think tennis and tactically."
"It's going to be interesting match. We are 2-All in victories. I managed to beat her before, so that's something I have to look for and try to perform like I did that time."
After Sharapova and Ivanovic have slugged it out on Rod Laver Arena the men's doubles final will also be decided, with Frenchman Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra, the No.7 seeds, taking on No.8-seeded Israeli pair Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
And the final match of the day on centre court will see local No.5 seed Bernard Tomic looking to make it two successive Australian winners in the boys' singles final against Tsung-Hua Yang of Taipei.
The first match of the penultimate day of the event will see another Australian in unseeded Jessica Moore, who reached the second round of the women's singles, taking on Dutch No.14 seed Arantxa Rus.
