Li Na crashes Sharapova to reach second Australian Open final

北京时间今天上午，2013年澳大利亚网球公开赛展开女单半决赛的争夺，6号种子李娜以2-0(6-2/6-2)横扫2号种子莎拉波娃，时隔两年后再度杀进澳网决赛。决赛中，李娜将与头号种子阿扎伦卡和斯蒂文斯之间的胜者争夺冠军。

李娜再次闯进澳网决赛，让外界对他刮目相看。被问及为何每次到这里都发挥这么好时，李娜表示，“每次回来，周围一切都特别特殊，每次回来都感觉特别好，谢谢大家。”

MELBOURNE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) －－ Former French Open champion Li Na of China swept second-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 to reach her second Australian Open final here on Thursday.

The China‘s top player reached her first Grand Slam final at the Melbourne Park in 2011 but lost to Kim Clijsters of Belgium in the final, just before she won Asia‘s first Grand Slam title in the French Open.

"I‘m very happy now. Not so many players can reach the Grand Slam finals three times," said Li. "I insisted and I made back to this stage. It‘s something worth to be proud of."

Sharapova, who only lost a historical tournament-low nine games in her previous five matches, struggled with her serve from the very beginning of the match. She double faulted twice in her first serve game, allowing Li to break her in the first game.

Li held to lead 2-0 and then broke again for 4-1 with a cross-court return. Sharapova fought her way to three break points in the sixth game and secured the chance when Li missed a return.

Li returned the favour in the following game to lead 5-2. The No.6 seed served for the set, racing to 40-0 and wrapped the first set up in 48 minutes.

Li took the first service break in the second set to remain on track with a 3-2 lead, grabbed a second at 5-2 and served out the match. Sharapova saved one match point but Li made an ACE to take advantage again and didn‘t waste the second chance.

"In the beginning of the match I was nervous. I was happy I come back to semis again, but for some reasons I really want to win the match," said Li.

"Li played a really great match. She was certainly much more aggressive than I was and I was always on the defense," said Sharapova. "I was making too many unforced errors."

The straight-set victory improved Li‘s record against Sharapova to 5-8. The pair met three times in 2012 and the Russian won all of the clashes.

Li will play against the winner between defending champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and 19-year-old American Sloane Stephens in the other semifinal later on Thursday.

Li played her first Grand Slam final at the Melbourne Park in 2011, losing to Kim Clijsters 6-3, 3-6, 3-6.

"2011 is the first time for me to a Grand Slam final. I was a little bit shocked because I didn‘t know what I should do. No one tell me what I should do on the court," said Li. "But this time I got more experiences, so I think it should be better."

Losing to Clijsters in her first Grand Slam final made Li Na hungry.

"That‘s the first time I was feeling I was really close to the title. I think this time should be a different story."