Sharapova faces Serena in WTA final

Fast forward eight years, and history is repeating as the two biggest names in women's tennis meet again in Sunday's climax to the season-ending championships in Turkey.

Neither ended 2004 ranked as No. 1, and the same will be the case this time.

Sharapova overpowered Victoria Azarenka 6-4 6-2 in the second of Saturday's semifinals, but the Belorussian had already guaranteed the year-end top spot by winning two of her group games.

However, it was a measure of revenge for the second-ranked Russian, who lost to Azarenka in January's Australian Open final, the U.S. Open semifinals and in two other tournament title matches -- the most recent in Beijing earlier this month.

"When you find yourself in a losing position a few times during the year, you want to try to figure out how to change those things around," Sharapova said. "I certainly didn't make as many mistakes today as I did in our previous matches this year.

"I'd lost to Victoria the last few times, so I'm really happy I put myself in the semifinals to play against her and try to improve that -- I was hoping to have a better result, and I'm happy I did today."

While she ended her losing run against Azarenka, Sharapova must now break a streak of eight successive defeats against Williams -- who thrashed her in August's Olympic final.

The American, who won the WTA event in 2001 and 2009, reached the final for the fifth time with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of fourth-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska in a rematch of July's Wimbledon final.

The Pole had been on court for three and a half hours in winning her final group match on Friday, and it showed as U.S. Open champion Williams -- who had a rest day -- needed just 61 minutes to complete victory.

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