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 Sharapova was a 17-year-old sensation when she last beat Williams
at the title-decider of her debut at the season-ending Tour Finals
in 2004.
That win followed her Wimbledon triumph a few months earlier when
she shocked the American top seed in the final, a result hailed as
one of the greatest upsets in the modern era by tennis writers at
the time.
It has all been one-way traffic since with Williams notching 15
successive victories on all surfaces, a record that Sharapova has
been reminded of, again and again, before her bid to break the
streak in the Australian Open women's final on Saturday.
"I go into matches where I've beaten opponents and I don't want to
focus on that because I don't want to get overly confident going
onto the court," Sharapova said on Friday.
"But also it's tough knowing... that she has such a powerful game
and I've had trouble against her.
"On the other side, when it's a final situation and knowing I'm a
big competitor, I'll do everything I can to try and win the match."
 Surprisingly, on paper, the defeats have not been hard-fought, as
befits two of the toughest and most accomplished players in the
women's game over the past decade.
Williams has often been known to drop a set here or there to far
lesser opponents and crash out altogether at the grand slams,
including her shock loss to Spaniard Garbine Muguruza in the first
week of the French Open last year.
Against Sharapova, however, of their last 10 meetings only the 2013
final at Miami went to three sets, meaning the American always keeps
her racquet sharpest for the Russian.
Both share the powerful ground-strokes and mental toughness of
multiple grand slam champions.
They also have similar backgrounds, raised in humble circumstances
and pushed into tennis by strong-willed fathers determined that they
will succeed on the professional tour.
OTHER INCENTIVES
Away from the tour, the similarities disappear.
The pair have never been close and their personal differences
exploded in the public sphere in 2013 when Sharapova made a
tit-for-tat snipe at Williams' relationship with her coach Patrick
Mouratoglou.
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"If Serena wants to talk about something personal, she should
talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and
is getting a divorce and has kids and not draw attention to other
things," Sharapova told reporters before Wimbledon.
Williams has other incentives to keep the streak alive. A sixth
title at Melbourne Park would have her move past Chris Evert and
Martina Navratilova's record of 18 grand slam win and match American
Helen Wills on 19.
From there, she would have a genuine shot at reaching Steffi Graf's
professional-era record of 22 titles. Australia's Margaret Court
holds the record across all eras with 24.
Williams would also become by far the oldest woman to win at
Melbourne Park in the professional era, eclipsing the retired Li
Na's effort last year at the age of 31.
A cold has been troubling her all week and she delayed a training
session early on Friday before coming out for a hit later in the
afternoon.
"I wasn't feeling really well," she said. "I got better, then I got
worse this morning.
"It went well this afternoon, I felt better."
Sharapova is unlikely to take any comfort from that, having seen a
gravelly-voiced and coughing Williams blow away her previous
opponents at Melbourne Park.
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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