Djokovic through to Aus Open final

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Slammin Serb ... Novak Djokovic celebrates another semi final win at the Australian Open. Source: Dita Alangkara / AP

World No.1 Novak Djokovic will be fresh, confident and in near-perfect form for Sunday night's shot at a record third straight Australian Open title after charging through his semi-final against David Ferrer.

Djokovic made the Spanish fourth seed look like a junior hitting partner as he won 6-2 6-2 6-1 in just 89 minutes on Thursday night.

Australian Open: Mens Singles

Round SF, 24/01/13

Djo (1)	6	6	6
Fer (4)	2	2	1

Ferrer, who has now played in five major semi-finals but never a final, is renowned as a running machine who always keeps fighting.

Those attributes were never going to be enough as the bigger, stronger Djokovic ran the Spaniard around the court then finished points with style and power to keep his unbeaten grand slam record against Ferrer intact.

Djokovic won more than twice as many points as Ferrer, at one stage during the second set stringing together 12 in a row to underline the one-way nature of the contest.

He rode a confidence wave through the third set, making spectacular winners look regulation, as he gave up just 11 points for the set.

The Serb, who extended his Melbourne Park winning streak to 20, will now await the victor of what is expected to be a much closer and more gruelling semi-final on Friday night between 17-time grand slam winner Roger Federer and US Open champion Andy Murray.

Djokovic said playing like he did against Ferrer was a rare feeling.

"I played incredible tennis," he said.

"I felt very comfortable and very confident from the start.

"I was aware of David's quality, I wanted to be aggressive on the court, but this is definitely one of the best performances I've had in my career."

He said it was no coincidence such a stellar showing came at Melbourne Park.

"This has been my most successful grand slam - I love this court, I love this atmosphere," Djokovic said.

"I'm just pleased to have another shot at the title." 

Djokovic's previous three Australian Open finals have all resulted in wins - in 2008 and the past two years - setting him up with a chance on Sunday night to become the first man in the open era to claim three in a row.

If it's Federer he's playing, both finalists will be seeking a slice of history, as the Swiss great will be chasing his fifth Australian Open crown, which would be an open era record.

If Murray wins through, it will set up a rematch of the most recent grand slam final, when the Scot won his maiden major title at last year's US Open, beating Djokovic in a near-five-hour five-setter.

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SA bowlers strike late against Vics

Centurion ... Chris Rogers makes 131 on day one at the Adelaide Oval. Source: George Salpigtidis / News Limited

A Chris Rogers century underpinned early Victorian dominance before South Australia struck back late on the opening day of the Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.

The Bushrangers made 6-314 on Thursday's first day, with Rogers compiling 131 while Peter Handscomb (85) and Michael Hill (54) scored half-centuries.

SHEF - Adelaide Oval

24 January 2013 - Day 1, Session 3

Victoria 1st Innings

C. White	13	34	2	0	38.24
W. Sheridan	0	13	0	0	0

The Victorians were cruising at 2-279 before SA took 4-25 in a six-over span in the final hour.

SA swingman Chadd Sayers was superb with 4-48 from 19 overs, claiming the prized scalps of David Hussey (one) and Rob Quiney (13), while Test spinner Nathan Lyon returned 0-77 from 24 overs.

The Redbacks were surprisingly without the state's two most recent internationals, Dan Christian and Kane Richardson.

Christian failed to make SA's squad while Richardson, just 11 days after making his Australian one-day debut, was 12th man.

The duo's bowling skills were missed early as prolific run-scorer Rogers banked his 56th first-class ton.

After Quiney was brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman, diving low to his left to complete a one-hander in front of first slip's bootlaces, Rogers and Hill put on 124 for the second wicket.

But Hill's promising knock ended when Johan Botha (1-43) beat the 24-year-old in flight and had him caught behind.

Handscomb, 21, then joined Rogers for a 136-run union which was broken when Rogers was dismissed with the initial delivery of the second new ball, lbw to Sayers.

Sayers struck again in his next over by bowling Hussey, who only arrived in Adelaide hours before the match, having travelled via Melbourne from Hobart after playing for Australia on Wednesday night.

Paceman Joe Mennie (1-62) then dismissed Handscomb before Sayers claimed his fourth wicket, John Hastings, for a duck. 

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Azarenka takes break for 'choking'

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Controversy ... Victoria Azarenka receives treatment for 'choking' in her semi final. Source: Andrew Brownbill / AP

Criticism has been levelled at Victoria Azarenka after the world No.1 admitted to taking a medical timeout at a critical stage of today's Australian Open semi-final because she needed to "calm down".

Australian Open: Ladies Singles

Round SF, 24/01/13

Azarenka won her way through to the final with a 6-1 6-4 win over American teenager Sloane Stephens on Rod Laver Arena in scorching 35C heat.

But much is being made of Azarenka taking two medical timeouts at once after she blew five match points in the second set.

Stephens had the momentum when she saved the match points and then broke Azarenka to bring it back to 4-5.

Azarenka called for the trainer and was off court for 10 minutes, stopping Stephens' momentum in its tracks.

The Belarussian finally returned to break the younger Stephens and close out the match.

In her on-court interview with Channel 7, Azarenka said it was nearly "the choke of the year".

When she left the court, she was asked by ESPN why she took the timeouts.

"I had to take a little bit of time to calm down ... I couldn't breathe, I had chest pains," Azarenka said.

"It was like I was having a heart attack or something.

"I did it it to make sure I was OK because I really could not breathe."

Then at her post-match media conference not long after, Azarenka changed her story and said it was her back that caused her to take the timeout.

"That's the reason I couldn't breathe - my back was locked," she said.

Of her comments to ESPN, she said she had misunderstood the question.

Azarenka admitted she should have taken the timeout earlier than when she did.

Stephens said she had no issue with Azarenka and denied it hurt her momentum.

"It has happened to me before, but it is not something that affects me," Stephens said.

Stephens pointed out she shares the same agent as Azarenka and said she was sure the two would talk about it at some stage.

Respected ESPN commentator and former player Pam Shriver was one of many to question Azarenka's sportsmanship.

"You cannot leave court for 10 minutes like that," she said.

"That is not the rules of the game."

United States Tennis Player Development general manager and commentator Patrick McEnroe also tweeted his thoughts.

"So let me get this straight. She had a lot of nerves and that's why she left the court. Unbelievable. Absolute travesty," he wrote.

Azarenka is also receiving criticism on her personal Twitter account with many fans accusing her of "cheating".

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Hazards: Sports' best brain snaps

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Brain snaps ... Athletes can lose their cool when the going gets tough. Source:Fox Sports

Live sport is all about being close to the action, but that's not exactly what these fans and officials were expecting when they had their run-ins with sports elite.

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Hazardous job

In Thursday morning's League Cup match - in scenes needed to be seen to be believed - Chelsea star Eden Hazard appeared to kick a ballboy, who wasn't letting go of the ball, in the stomach.

Hazard was shown a red card, and may yet face further sanctioning, but he isn't the first sportsperson to see the red mist descend in a moment of madness.

Cantona attempts to kick racism out of football

Who can forget Eric Cantona reacting to crowd abuse by hurling himself into the Selhurt Park stands and delivering a kung-fu kick and a series of punches to Crystal Palace fan Matthew Simmons back in 1995?

Cantona received a lengthy ban, but it could have been far worse, his two-week prison sentence eventually overturned on appeal.

Alderman's unfortunate tackle

Terry Alderman discovered the perils of taking on a fan during the 1982-1983 Ashes series when he tackled a pitch invader to the ground.

Alderman dislocated his shoulder in the process and was out of the game for a year, not that it deterred future cricketers, as Andrew Symonds showed when he put the shoulder into a streaker in 2008.

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Watch our video at the top of the page of sports best brain snaps and let us know any we have missed by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.

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Williams unleashes volley of abuse

The sport brain snap isn't always physical, as tennis superstar Serena Williams showed with a foul-mouthed tirade to a lineswoman at the 2009 US Open.

Irate at a foot fault call at a crucial point in the match, Williams unleashed on the official, reportedly threatening: "I swear to god I'm f***kin going to take this ball and shove it down your f**kin mouth."

Serena later apologised but the damage was already done.

Ron Artest ... brawls with NBA fans in 2004. Source: AP

Ron Artest before his World Peace days

What's the best way to start a fight with an athlete? Throw a cup of soft drink at them of course. That's what happened to Indiana Pacers star Ron Artest during wild NBA brawl in 2004.

A scuffle between players quickly spilled into the stands, with Artest, who has since changed his name to Metta World Peace, fighting with four different fans.

Artest was suspended for an NBA-record 86 games and lost close to $5m in prize money for his role in the ugly incident.

Carmen uses his head

Former Aussie rules bad boy Phil Carmen was never far from the headlines during his career and received a 20-week ban for headbutting an umpire and striking an opponent in a match against St Kilda in 1980.

Carmen marked his return to the game from suspension in the only way he knew how, by being reported.

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Have we missed any great sporting brain snaps? Let us know by leaving a comment below or by tweeting to @FoxSportsNews using the hashtag #fsnbrainsnaps.

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Blues bowlers restrict Warriors

Stephen O'Keefe ... backs teammate Moises Henriques for a Test call-up. Source: Mark Evans / News Limited

Four wickets in the space of 24 hours combined with more than 1600km travelled have left NSW captain Stephen O'Keefe in no doubt that allrounder Moises Henriques is ready for Test cricket.

Four wickets in the space of 24 hours combined with more than 1600km travelled have left NSW captain Stephen O'Keefe in no doubt that allrounder Moises Henriques is ready for Test cricket.

SHEF - Blacktown International Sportspark

24 January 2013 - Day 1, Session 3

Western Australia 1st Innings

S. Whiteman	41	107	6	0	38.32
J. Behrendorf...	0	13	0	0	0

Henriques claimed just one wicket as the Blues restricted Western Australia to 9-232 at stumps on day one of their Sheffield Shield clash at Blacktown on Thursday.

The 25-year-old faced a battle just to get to the western Sydney venue after playing a vital role for Australia in the one-day win over Sri Lanka in Hobart on Wednesday night with figures of 3-32.

Henriques' travel schedule started with a 7.30am flight out of the Tasmanian capital and ended nearly five hours later.

But it was his nine-over spell for the Blues after backing up from the previous night's heroics that impressed his state skipper enough to suggest another plane ticket - one to India - wasn't out of the question.

With Shane Watson deciding his body is unable to withstand the rigours of bowling, the Test allrounder spot has suddenly opened up, with Henriques and offspinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell looming as the main contenders to fill it for next month's four-Test series in India.

"There's no doubt I believe Moises has got talent as an allrounder (at that level)," O'Keefe said.

"I think his batting's good enough and I think his bowling's good enough.

"He showed in the one-dayer for Australia, that match-winning three-for, I think that's just a small glimpse at the potential he's got to win games.

"When he's on, he's as good a batter as anyone else and he's more than handy with the ball."

In fact, the most impressive bowler of the day was O'Keefe himself, another potential bolter for the Indian tour as the Shield's leading spinner with 12 wickets.

Both have just three more days to push their cases for inclusion in Australia's trip to India, and they'll have to do it against a Warriors outfit desperately fighting to get off the bottom of the Shield ladder.

O'Keefe claimed 3-52 on a slow wicket that offered a little for the spinners, including the scalps of openers Liam Davis (39) and Marcus Harris (25) as well as top-scorer John Rogers (45).

But it was his decision to send the Warriors in to bat which had the skipper most disappointed after a mostly productive day for the Blues.

"I don't think we assessed (the conditions) as best we would've liked on that wicket," he said.

"We thought it would've had a bit more with the new ball, however it's turned out to be pretty slow and offers a little bit for the spinners."

One man no longer pushing for Test selection is the recently retired Michael Hussey, who ended his international career in front of a full SCG earlier this month.

It was a far different sight at Blacktown, where the 37-year-old scored 29 before falling victim to Chris Tremain (1-35) during a period in which the visitors lost 3-37 after lunch to slump to 5-128.

Promising wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Whiteman (41) and Rogers (45) led a lower-order recovery which helped WA push their score towards respectability.

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We bring you NRL Supercoach

Superstar ... Will Billy Slater make your SuperCoach team? Source: Renee McKay / AAP

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