TENNIS / Australian Open: Yuri Sharapov, Maria Sharapova's father and coach, placed his hands at the side of his eyes like a horse's blinkers as he willed his 18-year-old daughter to maintain her focus during yesterday's quarter-final against her fellow Russian Nadia Petrova.

No woman concentrates as implacably as Sharapova but in cool and windy conditions that favoured the return of server, she struggled hard to maintain her composure before winning 7-6, 6-4.

"It was a miracle when someone held serve," Sharapova said before moving her thoughts to tomorrow's semi-final against Justine Henin-Hardenne, who, in another match of multiple service breaks and numerous unforced errors, beat the world number one Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

For both winners it was very much a means to an end. The women's event has not been brimming with compelling encounters. The demise of the Williams sisters in the first week was compulsive watching in a macabre sort of way - Serena, 2005 champion here and seven times a grand-slam winner, will drop out of the top 30 next week - and the comeback of Martina Hingis has been warmly greeted. But the big set pieces have been lacking, with neither of yesterday's quarter-finals living up to their billing.

But the Henin-Sharapova match-up promises much and may echo the intensity of last year's semi-final between Sharapova and Serena Williams, when the Russian failed to convert three match points. That clash of personalities produced hitting of stupendous velocity. Henin, the French Open champion, cannot quite match that power but she has an acute tennis brain and a connoisseur's dream of a single-handed backhand.

"I'll have to step it up against Justine, that's for sure," said Sharapova. "I'm moving a lot better while my biggest weapon is my toughness. I give it all out there and have won a lot of matches that way. The other girls know that, so even if I'm not playing my best tennis I can still win." You have only to look into the face of her father to realise from where she gets this toughness.

It was Yuri who took her to Nick Bollettieri's Florida academy when she was nine, which meant she was estranged from her mother for two years. But her father is not universally admired for his raw, sometimes overbearing ambition for his daughter, and Maria's own lack of obvious warmth grates with opponents and observers alike.

But champions do not have to be liked, although as yet, for all her singleminded pursuit of success, Sharapova has only one grand slam title, Wimbledon 2004. The expectations had been set higher, and some wonder whether her progress will not be as startling as was forecast. In this respect the next few days may be critical.

Sharapova and Henin have met only three times, all of them last year, all in quarter-finals. On the hard courts in Florida Sharapova had the edge although twice on clay, where technique is of the essence, the Belgian, winner of four slam titles, was vastly superior, handing the Russian a particularly severe lesson at Roland Garros where Sharapova looked out of her depth in the slower conditions.

Both began the year under an injury cloud. Sharapova had what she believed to be shoulder problems, which only recently were rediagnosed as a rib injury, and Henin played little in the latter part of last year because of a hamstring strain. Her confidence was restored when she won the pre-Australian Open tournament in Sydney. Sharapova has rediscovered her form over the past nine days.

Davenport, who won the last of her three slam titles here six years ago, dominated the opening set against Henin with wonderfully clean hitting. "I felt like I was in control, but once Justine got some confidence at the start of the second I could not stop her. I think her match with Maria is just too close to call."

Petrova, who has won only one career title and never been in a slam final, might well have beaten Sharapova if her nerve had held. She refused to make excuses, smiled off any suggestions that Sharapova's father had been coaching or interfering - "Well, I mean, that's Yuri" - and refused to blame her opponent's on-court wailings as a distraction.

One day an opponent will hold up their hand and ask the umpire to put a brake on Sharapova's theatrical exhalations.

It is not beyond Henin to be the first, although the pocket battleship Belgian is more likely to let her own tennis take the wind out of Sharapova's lungs.