Daily Blog
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 03:01
Written by Phil Boyle

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So yesterday it was Zheng Jie making tennis history by making it to the semi finals of the Australian Open tennis (as we wrote here), the first time a Chinese player has been there. And now, Li Na has shown that she wants a piece of the history books too. The Wuhan native just beat Venus Williams, yes, Venus Williams to book her place in the Semi Final for a potential face-off with Serena Williams.

Li Na, currently ranked 16th in the World Rankings, fought back from losing the first set 2-6, to take the next two 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 and reach her first grand slam semi-final. The last set saw 9 breaks of serve in 12 games in what was an epic struggle.

China has never had two players in the semi finals of any Grand Slam tournament. And who knows, on this form they may be just taking each other on in the final on Saturday. Both Semi Finals will be played tomorrow (Thursday).

After the match Li Na said, “I just play my tennis, I know I lose first set but thanks for the coach - he never gave up,” Li said looking towards her supporters' box with husband and coach Jiang Shan sitting there grinning. “Sometimes he talk too much, but nice guy,” said Li of Jiang. The pair met when Li was 16 and married in 2006.

And on the achievement for Chinese tennis: “It's good for both players, it's good for Chinese tennis, and also good for the fans.” Inspired words there.

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