Serena Williams has a shot at becoming the first woman in the Open era to win five Australian Opens after defeating No.16 seed Li Na of China 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-1) on Thursday.
The semi-final proved a much more straight-forward affair for Williams after her dramatic quarter-final comeback where Williams trailed Victoria Azarenka a set and a break on Wednesday. While Li put up a stubborn fight in her first Grand Slam semi-final she never seriously looked like upsetting the defending champion.
Either a long awaited Grand Slam final with Justine Henin or a contest with Li's compatriot Zheng Jie awaits on Saturday, with Williams looking for her 12th Grand Slam title and her fifth victory at Melbourne Park.
Four other women have won the Australian Open on four occasions in the Open era, Margaret Court, Evonne Cawley, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, but Williams would surpass those feats by adding the 2010 crown to those she won in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. She will also be aiming to be the first to defend the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy since Jennifer Capriati in 2002.
Williams never looked totally comfortable against a determined Li, who saved match points on four occasions in the second set. But the pressure eventually told in the second set tie-breaker which Williams completely dominated to continue her passage.
Williams fired 33 winners and had only 24 unforced errors and was especially impressive on serve where she won 59 of the 84 points. Li can feel a little aggrieved after an outstanding serving performance of her own, dropping it only once in the first game of the match, but her lack of experience told in the crucial tie-breakers.
Williams hit the ground running and broke in the very first game of the match. Her own serve was close to impenetrable for much of the set, and she dropped just one point from 22 when she landed her first serve.
The fast start looked to be crucial and she had her chance to take the set on Li's serve in the ninth game when she held set point, but the No.16 rallied to win that game.
Li then broke Williams at her third opportunity with the American serving for the set before getting it to a tie-breaker. But Williams took control of that, leading 4-1 and then 6-3 with three set points. She fluffed one of them, then took the next to move within sight of another Australian Open final.
Over the past 27 matches at Melbourne Park, every time Williams has won the first set, she has gone on to win in straight sets, which made Li's task look close to impossible.
Games went relatively comfortably to serve until the seventh game when Li held a break-point, but was unable to convert it. Williams then looked poised for victory when she secured two match points at 15-40 in the 10th game. She was unable to put it away on either of those chances or the one which followed in the same game.
The 12th game provided Williams with a further match point, but Li battled on to get the set to another tie-breaker. Her resistance was broken and Williams dominated, winning six of the first seven points to set up a multitude of further match points. She didn't miss her chance this time, sealing her spot in the final with her 12th ace of the match.