Artuji

Na Li of China joins Zheng Jie at the Australian Open 2010 semi-finals when she defeated seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams 2-6, 7-6, 7-5.

Williams served for the match in the 10th game of the second set but once Li wound up her forehand and a cross-court backhand, there was no stopping her.

She forced the set into a tiebreaker and was aided in her quest to take the match into a third set with Williams errors on serve and groundstrokes.

In the final set it seemed no one wanted to win with nine breaks of serve in 12 games. But Li gripped her racquet and gritted her teeth and hung tenaciously with Williams all the way.

Although Zheng has tasted a grand slam semi-final before in 2008 at Wimbledon, Li has made the quarter-finals twice before but travelled no further.

The pair became the first Chinese to make the quarters at the same grand slam and now have upped that to the semi-finals. Since they are on opposite sides of the draw, they could conceivably meet in Saturday night’s final.

Zheng plays wild-card and grand slam champion on the comeback trail, Justine Henin in her semi-final. Both those matches will be played on Rod Laver Arena tomorrow.