Serena Williams powered her way into a seventh US Open
final with a 6-0 6-3 victory over Li Na at Flushing Meadows to set-up a rematch
with Victoria Azarenka.
Williams broke Li five times, and she was dominant on her
own serve winning 76 percent of points on first serve and being broken just the
once.
The defending champion and World No 1 breezed through the
opening set against a nervous looking Li, taking her tally of consecutive games
won at the US Open to a remarkable 24.
Chinese star Li raised her game considerably in the
second set after visibly relaxing, grabbing her only break of serve early on
before then proving to be a stubborn opponent to see off in the penultimate and
best game of the math.
Li fended off seven match points before eventually
holding her serve after an epic 12-minute game, but it only delayed the
inevitable as Williams wrapped up the win in the next after just under an hour
and a half.
Williams took just 29 minutes to inflict a 6-0 bagel on
Li, who only won 14 points in the first set and nine of those came courtesy of
unforced errors from Williams.
Li finally got on the board by winning the second game of
the second set, and almost from nowhere she broke Williams to get ahead for the
first time in the match.
At 40-0 in the next she was cruising into a healthy lead
but Williams muscled in on her serve and instantly grabbed a break back to
level at 2-2.
A safe hold followed and then almost inevitably Williams
broke Li's serve for a fifth time in the next to lead 4-2, which became 5-2
after another routine service game.
Then came the memorable last stand from Li, fighting off
six match points as the Arthur Ashes crowd were finally treated to the
top-class tennis they had been looking for.
Li showed her class by finally holding serve, but despite
a couple of wobbles Williams held her nerve, and her serve, to make a seven US
Open final.
The 16-time grand slam champion will now face a re-match
of last year's final against Azarenka as she looks for a fifth US Open title.
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