China's Li claims final place in Melbourne

Li Na became the first Chinese player to reach a grand slam singles final after saving a match point on her way to beating Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open.

The ninth seed looked down and out when Wozniacki served a set, 5-4 and 40-30 up, but she escaped the danger with a booming forehand down the line before going on to break and eventually claim the second set.

A topsy-turvy deciding set could have gone either way but Li prevailed 3-6 7-5 6-3 and will now play either Vera Zvonareva or Kim Clijsters in Saturday’s final.

The pressure was on Wozniacki as she tried to silence the doubters who have questioned her position at the top of the world rankings, but it did not show early on as she played the more consistent tennis while Li was erratic.

The Dane broke for a 2-1 first-set lead and, although Li hit straight back, Wozniacki broke through again to go 4-2 up before clinching the set.

Li continued to struggle at the start of the second, committing far too many unforced errors, and Wozniacki took full advantage to establish a 3-1 lead.

But just as she appeared to be closing the match out, Wozniacki started to wobble.

Li broke for 4-4 after being 40-0 down only to hand the initiative back to the European after a woeful game which saw her make three elementary errors from 15-all.

Wozniacki brought up match point at 5-4 but could not serve it out as Li sparked into life.

The ninth seed then held before breaking again as a despondent Wozniacki double faulted.

The third set was compelling viewing.

Li moved 4-2 up only for Wozniacki to break back before then handing the initiative back to her opponent by failing to hold her own serve.

The nerves were jangling when Li, trying to serve it out at 5-3, smacked a forehand long to make it 30-30 but she won the next point and then clinched the match when Wozniacki put a forehand wide after a long rally.

Afterwards she revealed her preparations for the match had been disrupted by her husband and coach Jiang Shan.

“I am so happy to be the first Chinese player to be in a final,” she said. “I didn’t sleep very well last night. My husband was snoring and I was waking up every hour.”