BRISBANE, Australia - Serena Williams extended her winning streak against Maria Sharapova to 14 matches with a 6-2, 7-6 (7) semifinal victory Friday to earn a shot at back-to-back Brisbane International titles. The defending champion will play second-seeded Victoria Azarenka in Saturdays final, and will be favoured to retain the title that kicked off her stunning 2013 season that included 78 wins from 82 matches and 11 titles. After blowing two match points in the tiebreaker, Williams sealed the win with her seventh ace against the third-seeded Sharapova. In their first meeting since the French Open final, the uneasy rivals barely exchanged glances before the match and only briefly shook hands after. Both players were returning aggressively — leading to 15 double-faults between them and six breaks of serve in the second set — and hitting their grounds strokes hard and deep. Williams hit consecutive double-faults to give Sharapova a mini-break at 5-4 in the tiebreaker, something she said she couldnt remember ever doing before on tour. Sharapova responded with a double-fault to make it 5-5, and said shed missed her opportunities. "I had a few missed chances ... but overall Im happy I can compete at this level in my third match back," Sharapova said. "Its a good sign for me." Any friendship that existed between the pair soured when they traded personal barbs relating to their romantic relationships ahead of last years Wimbledon, where Sharapova made an early exit. Sharapova only played one match after that in 2013 as she recovered from a right shoulder problem. Williams said shed need to vastly improve her first-serve percentage — which sunk to 40 in the semifinals — to beat Australian Open champion Azarenka, who overcame a shaky serve and another case of the nerves to beat former No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Facing two of her biggest rivals back-to-back in her first tournament of the year, and less than two weeks before the Australian Open, is a big step up in preparations for Williams. "Yeah, I feel like Im being pushed into the deep end straightaway," she said. "I also think its a good thing." Azarenka had her problems on serve, too. She dropped her first three service games and was facing three break points in the opening game of the second set when she shifted the momentum with a winner she picked up on a half-volley when Jankovic was in control of the point. After needing 10 match points to beat Stefanie Voegele in the quarterfinals the previous night, Azarenka missed one chance to serve it out at 5-2 in the deciding set, conceding a break with a double-fault. She then missed a match point at 5-4 but held her nerve and finally finished it off on her second match point. The prospect of a match against another top four player so close to the Australian Open doesnt daunt Azarenka. "I dont think its ever too early. If you want to win big titles you got to play against the best players," she said. On the mens side, top-seeded Roger Federer coasted to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Marinko Matosevic of Australia and moved into a semifinal against No. 8 Jeremy Chardy of France. Second-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over Marin Cilic of Croatia and will next play former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, who cruised past Romanian qualifier Marius Copil 6-4, 6-2. Both Williams sisters will be playing finals Saturday, with Venus Williams to face Ana Ivanovic in the title match at the WTA tournament in Auckland, New Zealand. Venus Williams got a walkover into her first final since October 2012 when Jamie Hampton withdrew from their semifinal with a right hip injury. Ivanovic beat third-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-2, 7-6 (3). At the Hopman Cup, France clinched a place in the final against Poland with a victory over winless Spain. Alize Cornet beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-2 before Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sealed the victory by defeating 194th-ranked Daniel Munoz-De La Nava 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-2. The Czech Republic took a 3-0 win over the United States after John Isner withdrew ahead of his singles match and Sloane Stephens retired with a left wrist problem after losing the first set 6-3 to Petra Kvitova. Cheap Sacramento Kings Jerseys . Theyre ready for a "street fight," if thats the route to the NBA finals. James came up big down the stretch to finish with 29 points, Dwyane Wade scored 24 and Miami beat the Chicago Bulls 85-75 Wednesday night to tie the Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece. Cheap Jerseys .Y. -- Retired NFL safety Coy Wire says he was part of a small group of Buffalo Bills players who pooled money on a weekly basis and rewarded themselves for hurting opponents during his rookie season in 2002. http://www.chinajerseyscheap.us.com/soccer-club_bolton-wanderers-jersey/ . Instead of burgundy and gold uniforms with numbers, the 41 players on the field wore basic T-shirts and shorts. Several rookies -- 10 of the 12 draft picks showed up -- simply wore something with the name of their college on it. Cheap New York Jets Jerseys . Durant had 32 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in his return from a shoulder injury to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to their seventh straight win, a 103-91 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night. Cheap NFL Jerseys . The leagues latest move was to counter Vilmas attempt to initiate discovery in his defamation lawsuit against Roger Goodell, which alleges the commissioner lacked sufficient evidence when he publicly prejudged the Saints linebacker as the ring-leader of New Orleans pay-for-injury bounty system.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Andres Mendoza converted a penalty kick in the 51st minute and Columbus defeated Philadelphia 2-1 Saturday night to increase its lead in the Eastern Conference. The Crew (11-7-7) are five points ahead of Houston atop the Eastern Conference, while the Union (8-6-10) fell a point back of the Dynamo. Union defender Sheanon Williams was called for a handball when a pass from Robbie Rogers hit him on the left wrist as he tried to shield himself. Mendozas shot was initially stopped by Faryd Mondragon, but the ball rolled underneath him across the goal line. "We have played against each other around the world," Mendoza said. "He played for a club in Turkey when I was there. He knows how I play." Philadelphia coach Peter Nowak was upset by the penalty and said it was not befitting two teams battling for the top spot. "Its physically impossible to see from the angle the refferee was running and how far (away) he was," he said of referee Mark Kadlecik.dddddddddddd "Its physically impossible. What can I say? "And to make a call like that in a game like that, its a little too much for any kind of standard." Emilio Renteria scored for Columbus (11-7-7) in the 37th minute with a left-footed redirect of a pass from Rogers, but the Union got the equalizer five minutes later on their seventh corner kick, with Veljko Paunovic heading the cross from Keon Daniel. Paunovic ran past Justin Meram at the far post for the header that goalkeeper William Hesmer had no chance to stop. Hesmer came up with a key save against Sebastien Le Toux in stoppage time to preserve the Crews fourth win in five games. "It was a good effort by our team," Crew coach Robert Warzycha said. "We played against a very good organized team, a very physical team." cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '