Williams completes improbable charge to final

Unseeded and ranked No. 81, Serena Williams made it back to a Grand Slam event final today with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Nicole Vaidisova at the Australian Open.

Williams will meet top-seeded Maria Sharapova in Saturday’s final. Sharapova defeated No. 4 Kim Clijsters, 6-4, 6-2.

Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, weathered Vaidisova’s powerful forehands and gave back plenty of her own, sometimes surprising the 17-year-old Czech player with her speed around the court and the pace of her ball.

After leading, 5-1, in the second, she needed six match points before securing the victory with an overhead in 1 hour 46 minutes.

“Yahooo!” she said, laughing and celebrating the win.

“She played some incredible points on match point,” Williams said. “She just got relaxed. It reminded me a bit of myself. I just tried to stay focused and tried to stay calm -- it was just great.”

Williams won two of her seven majors at Melbourne Park and is one win away from her most improbable title.

“Williams came into the tournament without expectations and she’s playing great tennis,” Sharapova said after her victory. “She’s won many of these titles and I have a lot to catch up.”

In between her win here in 2005 and her run to this year’s final, Williams had not beaten a top-10 player and dropped out of the top 100 at one point last year.

By reaching the final, she is expected to surge back into the top 20.

“I can’t believe it. That’s awesome -- that was so fast,” Williams said. “I’m excited. I have nothing to lose. I’m back in the top 20, that means so much to me.”

Williams played only four tournaments in 2006, finishing the season 12-4 and without a title. She was the ninth-lowest ranked player to make a Grand Slam event semifinal since computer rankings were introduced in 1975.

If she wins, she would be only the second unseeded player to win the Australian in the open era.

Williams broke Vaidisova twice and took a 5-1 lead in the second set but the 10th-seeded player rallied and won three games in a row, saving four match points after being down, 0-40, to hold the ninth game.

“I almost did a gagarooney there,” said Williams, explaining: “Basically, you know gagging.”

Williams thought she had won it on match point No. 5, but Vaidisova’s backhand crosscourt was called in.

She had run out of challenges and had to accept the call, despite video replays showing the ball was out.

Williams fired an ace to get another match point and made no mistake with the next.

Men’s No. 2 Rafael Nadal limped out in the quarterfinals, complaining his leg was too sore to challenge Fernando Gonzalez.

With Gonzalez firing winners past him from the forehand and backhand sides, though, even a fit Nadal might have struggled.

The 10th-seeded Gonzalez had 41 winners in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 upset over the second-seeded Nadal on Wednesday, earning him a semifinal spot along with top-ranked Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Tommy Haas.