Caroline Wozniacki will get the chance to avenge her loss to Li Na at last year's Australian Open after ending Francesca Schiavone's brave run in Melbourne yesterday
Caroline Wozniacki will get the chance to avenge her loss to Li Na at last year's Australian Open after ending Francesca Schiavone's brave run in Melbourne yesterday.
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| Leg glance: Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki has her leg bandaged on court during yesterday's Australian Open quarter-final against Italy's Francesca Shiavone |
Wozniacki lost to the Chinese in the fourth round 12 months ago, but set up a semi-final rematch thanks to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Schiavone.
The Italian, who needed four hours and 44 minutes to squeeze past Svetlana Kuznetsova in the longest women's match in grand slam history in the previous round, fought valiantly but ran out of gas after a fine start as World No 1 Wozniacki maintained her bid to land a maiden Grand Slam crown.
Li had a more straightforward passage, beating Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 20 minutes in the first match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.
Schiavone started well, taking the first set and moving a break up in the second before inevitably starting to tire. And Wozniacki was happy to take advantage, hitting back from 3-1 down to level it up and take it to a deciding set in which she always held the upper hand ufffd despite some late heroics from the French Open champion.
"It was very difficult," said Wozniacki.
"Francesca was playing well at the start. It was tough for me to get the right rhythm and I was making mistakes on the important points. I just told myself to take one ball at a time and don't give up. If you get the chance, you need to take it now, otherwise it's going to be too late."
The Dane, who will retain the No 1 spot after reaching the semis, believes both she and ninth seed Li have improved since their last meeting.
"I lost to her here last year. She's a really good player and hasn't lost a match this year yet.
"She won in Sydney and she is on a roll. I think Li has improved a lot, but I also believe I have. I am going to go in there, fight for every point, and just see what happens."
