
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Li Na wore down Agnieszka Radwanska with a barrage of power-hitting to beat the fourth seed 7-5 6-3 and advance to her third semi-final at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The Chinese sixth seed overcame her customary slow start to edge the Pole in a tight first set and after trailing 2-0 in the second, reeled off five straight games to march to the brink of victory in bright sunshine at Rod Laver Arena.
Li survived a late wobble conceding two break points when serving for the match, but reeled off five straight points to seal it after 102 minutes when Radwanska pushed a forehand long.
Li, runner-up to Kim Clijsters in 2011, will face the winner Of the match between second seed Maria Sharapova and fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the final.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom. Editing by Patrick Johnston)
Rafa Nadal made short work of his great rival Roger Federer to win the Italian Open, while Serena Williams took down Victoria Azarenka in the women's final.
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