Azarenka said the key to beating Williams was to take her out of her comfort zone by scrapping for every ball. "You've got to fight," she said. "You've got to run, you've got to grind, and you've got to bite with your teeth for whatever opportunity you have. She's an amazing player. She's the greatest of all time."

Nevertheless, if Friday's semi-finals are any sort of form guide, Williams is the clear favourite. The American beat Li Na 6-0 6-3, sweeping aside the 2011 French Open champion with the sheer power of her game.

While Williams has yet to drop a set here and has lost only 16 games in her six matches,supra s1w uk Azarenka was taken the distance by both Alize Cornet and Ana Ivanovic.

She reached the final by beating Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-2 but dropped her serve five times in the match. The Belarusian is unlikely to get away with that kind of inconsistency against the player with the best serve in women's tennis.

"Now people are talking about what I could achieve, but I'm just not there yet. To me people like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf are the ultimate icons in the history of women's tennis. I'm just that girl with the racket and a dream. I'm just playing for that."

If there is anyone who can stop Williams' assault on history it could be the woman who will face her today for the second US Open final in a row. While the world No 3, Maria Sharapova, who missed this tournament with a shoulder injury, has lost her last 13 matches to Williams, supra skytop 3 womens Azarenka has turned around a similar record. After losing nine matches in a row against Williams, the world No 2 has won two of their last three meetings.

After those victories in the finals in Doha and Cincinnati this year, Azarenka believes she has a real chance of beating her in the first US Open final for 10 years to feature the world's top two players. The 24-year-old from Belarus, who has won two Australian Opens, went close last year, having served for the title and getting within two points of victory before Williams won the deciding set 7-5.

There have been blips along the way – most notably defeats by Sloane Stephens in the quarter- finals of this year's Australian Open and to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round at Wimbledon - but the evidence of the last 15 months suggests that Williams is a better player than ever. She has won 13 of the last 18 tournaments she has played, including Wimbledon and the US Open in 2012, the Olympics, the WTA Championships and the French Open.

With 16 Grand Slam singles titles to her name, the question now is whether Williams can become the most successful female player of the Open era.

The record for Grand Slam singles titles is held by Steffi Graf, who won 22. Chris Evert, who is tied in second place alongside Martina Navratilova with 18, believes that Williams has time on her side,asics onitsuka tiger uk given that she has always played fewer tournaments than most and has had periods away from the game through injury.

And Andy's Hitchcockesque scream after losing a set served only to do three things. 1. It perturbed even the noise-loving folks of New York City 2. It revealed that he needs more help with his head than with his shots or tactics and 3. It surely turned many British parents off buying their kids a tennis racquet. To be dubbed "Smashin' Andy" would probably have pleased Andy in his Dunblane days. But to get it as a multi-millionaire by smashing two racquets?

After the Olympics and his Wimbledon victory, our media raved about the "Murray Factor -- kids are swarming to tennis courts." Not from what I've seen. And they won't, unless Andy follows the example of players like Federer, who indeed smashed racquets when he was a teenager but developed into not only the most graceful and successful player of all time (so far) but the nicest and most diplomatic.

Andy, you will never be a Federer but then no-one else will. asics gel kinsei 4 mens Showing your opponents that you're emotionally still a bit of a baby merely serves to encourage them. Be a man. Your own man. You're a tennis player, not a racing driver. You don't need "Team Murray," or Sean Connery, or Sir Alex or any of the other hangers-on. Go on to beat the other sluggers, Rafa and Novak, and surely all of Scotland and the U.K. will be behind you.

This is not to belittle Andy's mum Judy, who has helped drive him to where he is and to where he might well be -- Number One in the world and multiple Grand Slam champion. As a Scot, nothing would give me greater pleasure if he gets his head right and reaches those heights.

And to be honest, Andy's performance, shot-wise,asics gel excel 33 womens against Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open last Thursday was not that bad. The "Swiss Shadow" (always in the shadow of Federer) happened to hit his A-game. But it wasn't about tennis at Flushing Meadows that day. It was about how a Scottish lad could be in New York City and not only bore but alienate NYC tennis fans, not by his tennis but by his behaviour.