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Post by Admin on Jan 23, 2014 5:56:24 GMT
Li Na has her third and probably best chance to win the Australian Open final after advancing with a 6-2, 6-4 win over 19-year-old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.
No. 4-seeded Li, the 2011 French Open champion, is the only major winner and the highest-ranked player still in contention after the fourth-round upsets of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova and defending champion Victoria Azarenka's quarterfinal loss to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
The Canadian, vastly inexperienced by any measure and certainly against an opponent such as Li, then issued her own challenge in the second set. With a more composed approach she twice broke Li's serve, only two drop her own serve three times. But it was a performance the winner acknowledged. "She will be No.1 in the world one day," Li said.
Bouchard said she changed her strategy to get out of her early slump.
"I just wanted to get into the match a little bit more. I felt like she was really hitting her shots. I was just letting her do all these winners side to side, it wasn't really my game," said Bouchard. "I tried to get into the rallies more, try to step in a little bit more, and try to put more pressure on her because she was just putting a lot of pressure on me. She didn't give me much breathing space, much room to do what I want to do on the court. I tried to put pressure, but she just played too good at moments."
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Post by Admin on Jan 23, 2014 7:19:06 GMT
Slovakian underdog Dominika Cibulkova stunned fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska Thursday, losing just three games to storm into an Australian Open final against China's Li Na. The 20th seed was in inspired form to rip the Pole to shreds 6-1, 6-2 and not only make her first grand slam final in 26 attempts but also become the first player from her country to get so far. On paper, Poland's Radwanska was the clear favourite after beating the Slovak, an old foe she has been playing since they were nine years old, in five of their six WTA meetings. But she was a shadow of the player that beat two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, unable to get in her groove on Rod Laver Arena with Cibulkova hardly putting a foot wrong.
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Post by Admin on Jan 23, 2014 15:00:40 GMT
Stanislas Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych to reach his first Grand Slam final and raise the prospect of an all-Swiss title decider at the Australian Open. The 28-year-old, seeded seventh, defeated the Czech eighth seed 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4). Wawrinka said: "It's amazing, I'm so happy to be here. I didn't expect to make a final in a Grand Slam." Compatriot Roger Federer, who beat Andy Murray in the last eight, faces Rafael Nadal in Friday's second semi-final. "It would be amazing," said Wawrinka of potentially playing Federer in Sunday's final. "Roger is the best player ever. He texted me last night. He is happy it is the first time two Swiss guys are in the semi-finals. I told him for you it's normal, for me it's not normal." He followed his five-set win over defending champion Novak Djokovic with another high-class performance that tested his once suspect nerve. "The match was extremely even and it was really so close," said Berdych. "It's really hard to find what could be the difference. We both played great. We played a good match. Stan was the one that just took it, and that's it."
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Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2014 6:34:50 GMT
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal prepare themselves for the clash of the titans tonight.
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Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2014 15:21:20 GMT
Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates his victory against Switzerland's Roger Federer during their men's singles semi-final match on day 12 of the 2014 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 24, 2014 Rafael Nadal continued his dominant streak over Roger Federer to reach the Australian Open final for the third time, beating the 17-time major winner 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-3 Friday night to set up a championship decider against No. 8-seeded Stan Wawrinka. Nadal has won 23 of his 33 matches against Federer, including nine of 11 in the majors. The 27-year-old Spaniard is now one victory away from becoming the first man to win all four majors at least twice in the Open era, and from joining Pete Sampras in second place on the list of all-time Grand Slam winners with 14. At the end of the night, Federer knew he wouldn’t even be the No. 1-ranked player in Switzerland next week. By reaching the final, Wawrinka ensured he’d replace Federer as their country’s highest-ranked player for the first time.
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