to defeat former champion Lindsay Davenport of the United States 2-6, 7-6, 6-1.

The 17-year-old, playing her first Grand Slam semi-final, recovered from a set and 3-1 down to pull off a spectacular win to set up a Saturday final showdown against either two-time defending champion Serena Williams of the United States or French fourth seed Amelie Ma-uresmo.

It was a memorable fightback by the Russian girl who was completely outplayed by the 1999 champion in the first set and a half and had the rain not forced the players off Centre Court with the 28-year-old Daven-port leading 2-1 in the second set, Sharapova may well have quickly capitulated.

But under bright sunshine, the 13th seed sparked her miracle comeback to move into the final, the second youngest ever to do so behind Martina Hingis who achieved the feat on her way to the title in 1997.

The Russian blonde's early nerves were not helped by having to come off Centre Court after just two points of the first set of the semi-final because of rain and when the players returned, the tone of the match was set.

Davenport, who beat Steffi Graf in 1999 to take the title and was playing her 15th Grand Slam semifinal, dominated from the outset breaking her 13th seeded opponent in the first game and again in the seventh before wrapping up the first set in just 25 minutes.

The American's success was based on a consistently successful first serve and trademark swooping groundstrokes which allowed her to control the pace of the tie.

In the opener, she gave up just six points on her service. It was more of the same in the second set with Davenport, playing in her 45th career Grand Slam tournament, breaking for the early advantage.