One half of the women’s final is now set at the 2014 Australian Open. On Thursday, No. 4 seed Li Na took down No. 30 seed Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 6-4.
Australian Open 2014: Li Na advances to final with win over Eugenie Bouchard
The 2014 Australian Open has one half of its women’s final set, as No. 4 seed Li Na stopped upset-minded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets on Thursday.
Mark Kolbe
It wasn’t a perfect match for Li. She took the first set handily, but for every amazing, well-placed shot, she had a mistake that kept Bouchard in the game. The second set was much closer than the first, with Li giving up breaks on her own mistakes. But serving while up 4-3, Li had a dominant game, with a huge serve at 40-15 to hold serve.
Bouchard had struggles with her serve all match, but she did manage to hold from there. But Li took over again, serving for the match and after a long back-and-forth at 40-30, delivered the final blow to win.
Li will now await the results of the other semifinal, a matchup between No. 5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 20 seed Dominika Cibulkova. Is should be a great match, given that Radwanska looked amazing in her quarterfinal victory over No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, and the fact that Cibulkova has now eliminated three seeded opponents, including No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova.
The first of two men’s semifinal matches will also be played later on Thursday, as No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych is set to take on No. 8 seed Stanislas Wawrinka. That match is scheduled to begin at 3:30 a.m. ET.
Li and her opponent will meet in the women’s final on Saturday.
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