Defending champion Kim Clijsters has eliminated world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter finals of the Australian Open setting up a semi-final clash with No.3 seed Victoria Azarenka.
Clijsters showed few signs of the ankle issue she suffered in her previous match, playing typically dogged and powerful tennis to see off Wozniacki 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in a match which lasted 105 minutes.
Earlier Azarenka had battled her way into the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time, prevailing from a rollicking match against Polish No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets.
Clijsters, who overcame four match points to defeat Li Na in the fourth round, hit 39 winners to her opponents' 13 and now looks a huge chance to claim back-to-back titles.
Wozniacki, seven years Clijsters' junior, started the match poorly by being broken in her first game and while she was able to get that back immediately she was again broken in the third and seventh games to trail 2-5.
She was able to keep the first set alive briefly, when a couple of errors from Clijsters allowed her to break again, but an epic 16-point ninth game saw Clijsters secure the set with a brilliant passing shot on her fourth set point.
The pair again traded breaks early in the second set before Clijsters look to get a hold with a break in the sixth game. At 5-3 she held the game on her racquet, but the world's top ranked player fought back again to get it to a tie-breaker.
Both players showed few nerves in the breaker, with the first nine points going to serve. But a powerful winner by Clijsters at the end of a 14-shot rally set up match point, before she finished Wozniacki off with a smash at the net.
While all praise will be saved for Clijsters, Woznaicki will be forced to answer the inevitable questions about her Grand Slam credentials, having yet to break through at one of the top four.
It means that only one of the past eight top ranked women at the Australian Open have gone on to win.
Earlier, Azarenka dropped the first set in a tie-breaker but rallied on the back of the weakness of her opponent's serve to win 6-7 (0-7) 6-0 6-2.
She was rewarded for playing the more adventurous tennis, with 39 winners to Radwanska's 16, while she broke her 10 times during the contest.
It was a rollercoaster first set right from the moment Azarenka broke Radwanska in the first game. The Pole broke back in the fourth game, but that started a run of five consecutive service breaks which ended when Radwanska held in the ninth game.
Azarenka then held to love and immediately broke her opponent to have the set on her racquet, but went down 0-40 in the subsequent game and was then broken forcing a tie-breaker.
Three mistakes to start that saw Azarenka immediately under the pump and when Radwanska aced to lead 5-0, the Belarusian surrendered with a double fault and then an unforced error.
Spurred by her tie-break capitulation, the No.3 seed responded by immediately by holding easily and then breaking her opponent twice, including crucially in the fourth game when Radwanska double faulted.
There was no rearguard action this time from the No.8 seed as she gave up her serve and the set without a fight, winning just ten