Australian Open finalist Maria Sharapova

Reuters

MELBOURNE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Factbox on Russia's Maria Sharapova, who will meet Serena Williams in the Australian Open final on Saturday: Born: April 19, 1987 in Nyagan, Russia Seed: 2 GRAND SLAM TITLES: Five: Wimbledon (2004); U.S. Open (2006); Australian Open (2008); French Open (2012, 2014) MAKING HER NAME * Born in Siberia, moves to Black Sea coastal resort of Sochi aged two. * Moves to Florida in 1996 to train at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Bradenton. Sharapova's father Yuri moves to U.S. with her but mother, Yelena, has to stay in Russia due to visa restrictions. * Turns professional in 2001. TENNIS CAREER * Wins first tour title at Tokyo in 2003. Finishes inside top-50 for first time. * Becomes first Russian woman to win Wimbledon in 2004 aged 17, beating defending champion Serena Williams 6-1 6-4 in the final. * In August 2005 becomes first Russian woman to reach the top of the world rankings. * Wins her second grand slam after defeating second seed Justine Henin 6-4 6-4 in the 2006 U.S. Open final. * Beats Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-5 6-3 in 2008 to win her third grand slam title, and first Australian Open. * Undergoes shoulder surgery in 2008 and has a nine-month injury layoff. * Regains number one ranking by beating Petra Kvitova in their semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2012 before defeating Sara Errani 6-3 6-2 in the final to complete her collection of grand slam trophies. * Wins a silver medal in her Olympic debut at the 2012 Games in London, losing the gold-medal match against Williams 6-0 6-1. * Misses second half of 2013 season with a shoulder injury. * Returns to the WTA Tour in 2014 at the Brisbane International tournament, making the semi-finals. * Loses in the fourth round at the Australian Open, losing to eventual finalist Dominika Cibulkova. * Seeded seventh, she wins her fifth grand slam title at 2014 French Open, beating Simona Halep in the final. * Wins three other titles at Stuttgart, Beijing and Madrid and finishes the year ranked second, behind Serena. 2015 AUSTRALIAN OPEN * Begins 2015 with Brisbane title, beating Ana Ivanovic in the final. It is her first title victory before the season-opening grand slam. * Has a comfortable victory over Petra Martic in the first round but then suffers a massive scare in the second when she is forced to save two match points against compatriot Alexandra Panova. * Admits after the Panova match that she had a pointed telephone conversation with her father, who described the performance as "unacceptable". * Destroys 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard in the quarter-final after the Canadian had been tipped as a favourite, not allowing the youngster to get into the game at all. * Follows that up with another clinical performance over compatriot Ekaterina Makarova to set up final with Serena. Path to the final: 1st round - beat Petra Martic (Croatia) 6-4 6-1 2nd round - beat Alexandra Panova (Russia) 6-1 4-6 7-5 3rd round - beat 31-Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) 6-1 6-1 4th round - beat 21-Peng Shuai (China) 6-3 6-0 QF - beat 7-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-3 6-2 SF - beat 10-Ekaterina Makarova 6-3 6-2 (Compiled by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)