MELBOURNE, Australia – Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport both know how it feels to be on top of the tennis world, winning Grand Slam titles and being ranked no. 1.

They also know the frustrations of injuries and inconsistency; Davenport even spoke seriously about retiring last season. Now, after both were on the brink of elimination in the Australian Open semifinals, one of them will leave Melbourne Park with the title.

For Williams, it would be a seventh Grand Slam singles title, her first since Wimbledon in 2003 – when she ended her run of five championships in six majors.

She’s never doubted her place in tennis, and shrugged off criticism that she and sister Venus are in decline with an angry response outlining the injuries they’ve endured and the emotional upheaval caused by the shooting death of another sister in September 2003.

“We’re not declining. I don’t have to win this tournament to prove anything,” she said. “I know that I’m one of the best players out here.”

That was before her semifinal win over Maria Sharapova, when she saved three match points and twice broke serve when the no. 4-ranked Sharapova tried to close out the match.

Williams apparently decided as she plucked her racket strings, trying to figure out how to correct a backfiring forehand, that the only way to silence critics was by winning after all.

“Those are always the best wins, when you’re down match point, because you realize that you can’t give up,” said Williams. She saved match points against Kim Clijsters in the semifinal here two years ago before advancing and beating Venus in the final.

The 2-6, 7-5, 8-6 semifinal win over Sharapova was more than just revenge against the 17-year-old Russian, who ended Williams’s 20-match winning streak at Wimbledon with a straight sets win in the final and later defeated her again at the WTA Championships.

Williams is on a 13-match winning streak at Melbourne. She skipped her title defense in 2004 because of a knee injury.

Davenport, 28, announced at Wimbledon last year that she’d probably retire after the U.S. Open. She changed her mind after surging up the rankings to no. 1, reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

But she did it without winning a major – her last was here in 2000 – and in the absence of injured Belgians Justine Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters, and with the Williams sisters spending periods out with injuries.

Like Williams, Davenport said she hasn’t yet played her best tennis in Melbourne. She rallied from a set and 4-1 down in the tiebreaker to beat 19th-seeded Nathalie Dechy 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the semifinals.