In the lead-up to her first Grand Slam final, Victoria Azarenka has been hard at work practising her moves. Dance moves that is.

“I’ve been working on it every warm-up before my match. It’s getting better,” said Azarenka who will play Maria Sharapova in the final.

Sharapova, who at 24 is two years Azarenka’s senior, has been through all this before. Five Grand Slam finals for three victories, including the Australian Open title in 2008, more than gives Sharapova the edge in experience. And she will not be going easy on Azarenka on Saturday night.

“Even though Victoria hasn’t really been in that stage of a Grand Slam before, she’s certainly won big titles and she has the experience.

“This is a stage she’s wanted to be at for a long time, so I do expect her to play really good tennis,” said Sharapova after she defeated her Wimbledon conqueror Petra Kvitova in the semifinals.

Speaking ahead of Saturday night’s final, Azarenka said this is the moment she’s been waiting for.

“[I] worked hard to be in this situation, so why stress about it? I want it and that’s what I’m looking for, so I’m just going to go out there and try to do my best.”

The world No.3 doesn’t see her lack of Grand Slam final experience a problem and with the career head-to-head count split 3-3, Azarenka knows she’s in for a tough time.

“I think she’s a very tough opponent. She’s been in the finals here, she won here, so definitely she has a lot of experience.

“We always had difficult matches, so really looking forward to that battle. It’s not going to be easy.”

It’s a battle that many are saying will be the loudest ever heard at Rod Laver Arena, with both players known to grunt as big as they hit.

“Oh, my God,” exclaimed an exasperated Azarenka. “Every, every press conference. Can you surprise me sometimes with a different question?

“No, I mean, whatever people call us, you know. I respect every opinion.”

So far opinions on Azarenka have been mixed. Over the past fortnight, many in the crowd have taken to mimicking her signature high-pitched grunt between points. Loud and aggressive on court, the likeable 22-year-old is anything but off the court.

It’s a situation that could potentially cause a player new to the tour more than a few sleepless nights. But with six years on the tour under her belt, Azarenka has found a new level of maturity and is coping exceptionally well.

“I had, how do you call that, meltdowns?” smiled Azarenka.

“Yeah, I had some. For sure you can see some on YouTube. But, you know, I grow as a player, I grow as a person, and I try to learn from my mistakes and make it better.”

Azarenka will need to channel all her energy into keeping her cool against ice queen Sharapova. And to help keep her mind clear as she prepares for the biggest battle of her life, she’ll start by thinking about anything but tennis.

“I just relax, try get my mind off the tennis court, you know. I think I can do it quite well. Watch few movies, read a little bit. Just do something different.”

And if the belter from Belarus can break through for her first Grand Slam title on Saturday night, we may just see some of those dance moves in action

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No.2 seed Petra Kvitova has advanced to the semifinals of AO2012 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Italy’s Sara Errani at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.

Despite making numerous unforced errors Kvitova took the first set in 53 minutes as she looked too strong for the 48th-ranked Italian.

Errani bounced straight back in the second set, taking an early break and racing out to a 4-1 lead. With the underdog hitting fluent winners and pushing Kvitova around the court it looked certain to be heading for a decider.

However, the Czech player rallied and regained her stride from the opening set to take five straight games and close out the match.

It was a courageous effort from the unseeded Italian, who hit 75 percent of her first serves to Kvitova’s 65%, and made only 25 unforced errors to the Czech’s 44. But it was the winners column where the No.2 seed accounted for those statistic, hitting 36 to Errani’s 17.

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In 35 minutes Lisicki won the first set 6-3 after being down 0-3. Lisicki found her length and power to break Sharapova five times to win the set in enthralling fashion. Sharapova had no answers to the Lisicki strokes as she ended up losing 6 games in a row.

Sharapova took the second set 6-2 to square the match at 1 set all. Sharapova played much better tennis than her German counterpart in all aspects. Lisicki was not at her level best and could not keep the tempo up. Sharapova was very aggressive on the Lisicki serve. She smashed 9 winners in this set that lasted for 42 minutes

The final set was also a close encounter with Sharapova needing just one break to seal the match. Both players were attacking the serves and tried breaking the other one. Sharapova next faces Ekaterina Makarova, who dispatched Serena Williams in straight sets for a place in the last 4.

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And earlier, second-seed Czech Petra Kvitova advanced after being handed an early finish thanks to an injury to Russian 27th seed Maria Kirilenko, while unseeded Italian Sara Errani is also through to the last 16.

Having conceded only two games in total in her first two matches, 2008 champion Sharapova continued on her miserly way at Melbourne Park against German 30th seed Angelique Kerber, winning 6-1 6-2.

But the score didn’t fully reflect the fight that Kerber showed, particularly in the second set, before she was eventually blown away by Sharapova’s power hitting, 34 winners to just 14 a true reflection of the gulf in class between the pair.

The 87-minute win sets up a fourth-round meeting with either Sharapova’s 18th-seeded compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, or another German in 14th seed Sabine Lisicki.

Two days after sending Estonian 25th seed Kaia Kanepi packing, Makarova made it back-to-back boilovers when she overcame an early 3-0 deficit against Zvonareva and then also the disappointment of failing to serve out the set at 6-5.

She would eventually take the opening set in the tie-breaker and from there it was all Makarova as she broke twice more in the second before eventually serving it out to complete a 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 victory.

Having now reached the last 16 at a Grand Slam for just the third time at her 18th attempt, Makarova may not have it any earsier next up when she could face American 12th seed and four-time champion Serena Williams, who clashes with Hungarian Greta Arn at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.

Earlier, Wimbledon champion Kvitova was leading 6-0 1-0 with a break in the second set – having already struck 20 winners – and had been on court only 38 minutes when a groin injury forced Kirilenko to retire.

Kirilenko injured herself in the first game and then made it worse attempting a serve volley in the fifth game. But while she took two breaks to receive treatment, it was in vain as she conceded defeat.

Next up for Kvitova, who reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park 12 months ago, will be 2008 finalist Ivanovic, who had to fight back in the second set in order to see off American Vania King 6-3 6-4.

Ivanovic has endured a lean run since winning the French Open in 2008, and this is just the fifth time from her past 15 Grand Slams that she’s through to the last 16, although she will have to tighten her game after mixing 22 winners with 29 unforced errors.

Ivanovic was also broken three times in the match but will take some confidence into her clash with Kvitova having won their three meetings so far, although the last of them was three years ago in Brisbane.

Errani dropped the first set but fought back to win 6-7 (6-8) 6-0 6-2 against Sam Stosur’s Romanian conqueror Sorana Cirstea, who struggled with a lower back injury in the final two sets.

That leaves her to face either French No.9 seed Marion Bartoli or China’s Zheng Jie.

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The Slovak came through 4-6 6-4 6-3 against the dogged Ukranian to set up a clash with defending champion Kim Clijsters in the third round.

However former French Open championFrancesca Schivone failed to progress, losing 6-4 6-3 to Romina Oprandi.

There was another minor upset in one of the other early matches of the day, as Shuai Peng failed to join compatriot Li Na in the third round, going down 6-2 6-4 to Iveta Benesova.

There were no such alarms for Li Na though, as she prevailed 6-2 6-2 over Olivia Rogowska in two straightforward sets.

Jelena Jankovic, another player looking to recapture some of her past form, showed encouraging signs in a 6-4 6-2 win over Taipei’s Kai-Chen Chang.

There were wins for 26th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues - a 6-1 6-0 thrashing of Olga Govortsvaand 23rd seed Julia Goerges - who entered the round of 32 after Eleni Daniilidou was forced to retire.

World number one Caroline Wozniacki endured a tough second set before beating Anna Tatishvili 6-1 7-6 while Clijsters had a far easier run – beating Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France 6-0 6-1.

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Wozniacki, still seeking her first grand slam crown, cruised through the opener only for Tatishvili to storm into a 4-1 lead in the second.

She fought her way back level, though, taking it to a tie-break which she won to advance to a meeting with Pauline Parmentier or Monica Niculescu.

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In a Facebook posting Wilander on Wheels, which runs tennis clinics, said it wanted to give an update on his condition because of rumours swirling about the Swede, a commentator for Eurosport.

“Late on Saturday evening Mats sustained a fall in his apartment which caused him to be taken to a local hospital in Melbourne,” the posting said.

“He sustained a laceration to one of his kidneys. This caused internal bleeding. The bleeding has ceased as of 7.00am this morning. He will be out of commission for a while.

“We will keep you updated on his condition if things change. Thanks for everyone’s concerns and enjoy the Open!”

The Swedish tennis legend was in Melbourne to work as a television commentator for the Australian Open tournament.

Wilander, 47, won seven grand slam titles between 1982 and 1988, including three Australian Open titles and three French Open titles, in a glittering career.

Along with countryman Stefan Edberg, Wilander helped bolster ensure Swedish men were a force to be reckoned with on the Grand Slam circuit after the retirement of Björn Borg in 1983.

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The government announced this month it would have 13,500 troops on duty for the 2012 Games, more than the 7,000 widely expected.

Two navy ships, warplanes and ground-to-air missiles would also be deployed to provide security, it said.

But Coe insisted that security concerns would be finely balanced with making visitors feel welcome.

“There has to be proportionality here,” he told the newspaper.

“You don’t want people coming to London thinking they’ve walked into siege city, being filmed every 20 paces they take and being bundled off pavements.

“It’s certainly not what you are going to get legacy tourism from.”

He added: “There is no appetite for risk … But we also want people to come here and leave feeling they’ve had an extraordinary time and want to come back.”

Announcing the plans for troops and weapons on December 15, defence secretary Philip Hammond said they would “contribute to ensuring a safe, secure and enjoyable 2012 Olympics.”

The government also raised the Games’ security budget this month from £282 million to £553 million.

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Although he’s stopped sending messages, Jane said he’s constantly checking his account.

“I’m battling. I’m checking it like every 10 minutes just to see what people are writing and what’s going on. It’s starting to hurt but rules are rules,” he said.

“The worst thing about it is when somebody writes something you just want to answer and let them know… but we’re not allowed to.”

Jane’s tweeting has landed him in trouble with the All Blacks in the past, notably when he revealed in 2009 he had not been selected for a Test against England 24 hours before the team was officially released.

Coach Graham Henry admitted then he did not know what Twitter was and “thought it was a new guy playing five-eighth (fly-half) for England.”

Jane said that while he struggled with the ban on responding to the many messages he received, he was not tempted to use a pseudonym because of the consequences of being caught.

“I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to get kicked out first of all. I’ll just abide by the rules and keep checking it every 10 minutes.”

Meanwhile, the England team management have told their players they can tweet during the September 9-October 23 tournament as long as they don’t reveal team selections, criticise the management or taunt the opposition.

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Fifa ‘s bribery hearings in Zurich disintegrated into claim and counter-claim as the world governing body’s leaders turned on each other.

Jack Warner unleashed his threatened “tsunami” after he and Asian confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam were suspended by Fifa’s ethics committee pending the outcome of a full inquiry into allegations they paid officials $40,000 (£25,000) each in bribes.

Warner claimed Fifa president Blatter made gifts of computers to officials plus an unauthorised $1m (£600,000) gift to the CONCACAF federation – and that Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke suggested the 2022 World Cup was “bought”.

The rows further deepened the crisis into which the organisation has been plunged.
Warner said in a statement: “I indicated that at the Miami CONCACAF Congress on May 3 Mr Blatter made a gift of $1m to CONCACAF to spend as it deems fit.

“This annoyed [ Fifa ] President Michel Platini who was present and he approached secretary general Jerome Valcke complaining that Mr Blatter had no permission from the finance committee to make this gift to which Jerome replied that he will find the money for Mr Blatter.

“I also indicated… Fifa through Mr Blatter organised gifts of laptops and projectors to all members of the Caribbean and no objections have been made today of this to date.”

Warner said 13 federations had written to the ethics committee backing him up.

Warner’s apparent revelation of an email from Valcke about Bin Hammam running against Blatter for Fifa president is potentially even more explosive.

Valcke, according to Warner’s statement, wrote to him suggesting that Qatari Bin Hammam had “bought” the 2022 World Cup for his country.

Warner added: “I wrote Valcke telling him, among other things, that the outcome of the elections may cause some fracture in the Arab world which we can ill afford now and that I will like to ask Bin Hammam to withdraw from the race.

“To which Jerome replied to me and I quote: ‘For MBH, I never understood why he was running. If really he thought he had a chance or just being an extreme way to express how much he does not like anymore JSB [Blatter]. Or he thought you can buy Fifa as they bought the WC’.”

Bin Hammam withdrew from the Fifa presidential election and Valcke announced that the election, with Blatter as the only candidate, will take place as scheduled on Wednesday.

Valcke, meanwhile, defended Blatter’s right to stand in the election but accepted the scandal was “a watershed moment” for Fifa.

Asked about the coming election by Sky News, Mr Valcke said: “I don’t see what is wrong with this election with Mr Sepp Blatter.

“I think the most important thing is a commitment from all the members of the Fifa ExCo with the president to support a change within Fifa and in his last mandate make sure that Fifa is stronger and cleaner than it was.

“Maybe we can have the top guys around the world come to put things in place to stop that these things from happening again.”

Meanwhile, an Australian senator wants his government to ask Fifa to “refund” the $46m (£30m) that the country spent on its failed bid to host the 2022 World Cup in the wake of the latest bribery allegations.

Nick Xenophon released a statement under the heading “Red Card for Fifa”, saying “not one more cent” should be spent on any further World Cup bids until the corruption scandal is resolved.

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