Unseeded and ranked No. 81 after an injury-plagued 2006, Serena Williams made her comeback to a Grand Slam after beating with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 the player Nicole Vaidisova at the Australian Open.

Standing in the way of an eighth Grand Slam title since she has already won twice, is top-seeded Maria Sharapova. Sharapova turned her semifinal against No. 4 Kim Clijsters into an Australian farewell match for the 23-year-old Belgian, who is retiring at the end of the year, with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Williams and Sharapova have split four previous matchups. Williams won their last encounter after saving match points in the semifinals here two years ago before going on to win the title.

"I can't believe it," the former world No. 1 said. "That's awesome. I'm like a chameleon. I can kind of change and get my game going to whatever the situation is. If I play well, which I don't think I've even reached yet at all in this tournament ... it's really hard for anyone on the women's tour to beat me."