Li Na blasts her way past Maria Sharapova to reach the title match – Australian Open 2013
Another hot favourite contender fell out of the race to glory at Australian Open and this time it was the Russian blonde, Maria Sharapova. The world number two has been absolutely belligerent throughout the Grand Slam campaign
but couldn’t show wonders against the sixth seeded hard-hitting Chinese, Li Na, in the semi-final clash. Sharapova suffered a 6-2, 6-2, defeat at the hands of the Chinese veteran on Thursday afternoon.
The slender-legged Russian was among the hot favourites for winning 2013 Australian Open title. Her bids for winning the season-opening title got even higher after the exit of the world number three, Serena Williams, in the quarter-final
round. However, Sharapova couldn’t go past the might of the former French Open champion, Li, in the round of four. She didn’t play at her best, coughing numerous unforced errors on regularity and frittering away priceless opportunities to let her opponent
grab victory. She didn’t appear to be the Sharapova who was seen in the initial rounds of the Australian Open in the last 10 days.
Li wasn’t the favourite for winning the semi-final clash but she beat all the odds to register a thumping victory over the hot favourite Russian. She spared barely four games for Sharapova in the entire matchup, breaking the Russian
serve five out of 10 times and giving away merely one break point en route to victory.
"In the beginning of the match I was nervous - I was happy to come to the semis again, but for some reason I really wanted to win this match," Li told "I don't know what happened today. I just came to the court feeling like, 'Okay,
just do it.' Yeah. We had a lot of close games. Before I would get angry or something in those moments, but this year I've tried to cool down on the court. I still have some work to do though."
Li will play the title match of the Australian Open against the defending champion and the world number one, Victoria Azarenka. The top seeded Belarusian outsmarted the surprise semi-finalist, Sloane Stephens, in straight sets,
6-1, 6-4, to reach the final.
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