The semi finals were completed on Thursday and one of them generated a rather unexpected upset.
(Rank/Seed)
1/1 Azarenka ended the fairytale run of (25/29) Stephens 61 64 to reach a second straight Australian Open (AO) final. The first set wasn't even close as Stephens no doubt struggled to refocus after yesterdays drama. The second however saw Azarenka hurt her ankle and get broken for the first time in the third game. From there on in, it was a contest with Stephens breaking back from 2-4 and 3-5 down, saving five match points in the latter as Azarenka grew increasingly nervous. Azarenka then took a surprising medical time out to regain her composure and returned to finish off the match on her sixth match point. Stephens will now crack the top 20 for the first time and Azarenka is close to being guaranteed her number one ranking.
6/6 Li upset the apple cart in taking out (2/2) Sharapova 62 62. From the off, Li was sharp, breaking in the first and fifth games to carve out a 4-1 lead. Sharapova constantly struggled to return Li's sliced second serve and made many errors off her backhand. She managed one break back, but Li broke for a third time to win the set. After a few close games, that saw Sharapova hold twice, Li rallied to win five straight games and the match. The games were often very close, with Maria often having break point, but each time Li remained composed and Sharapova would error, winning only 1 of 7 break points. Sharapova's number one hopes have now gone and it leaves a sour taste to a competition that so far had been so easy for her, whilst for Li she makes her second AO final and her first Grand Slam final since winning the 2011 French Open where she beat Maria in the semis too. It seems as if the lack of test went against Maria, who often seemed slow and off the pace, hitting 32 unforced errors to just 17 winners, compared to the 21:18 winner:error ratio of Li.
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