Rafael Nadal

After Rafael Nadal’s shocking exit at the hands of David Ferrer on Day 10, the Australian Open continued to spring up more surprises with Na Li beating the top seed Caroline Wozniacki to reach the finals while the super Serb Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in straight sets to reach his fourth Grand Slam final.

The women’s semifinal was first up in the day with Wozniacki taking on Na Li. For a set and a half, Li was outplayed by the Dane. But the Chinese woman shifted gears, saved a match point and stole the second set 7-5. She broke Wozniacki’s serve twice in the third set and stormed into the finals thus becoming the first Asian woman to do so.

This match was followed by the second semifinal between the Belgian supermom Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva in a repeat of last year’s US Open final. After the first seven games went on serve, a mishit from Zvonareva gave Clijsters the break and she served out the set. The Belgian raised her game to another level in the second set and broke the second seed’s serve to take the set and the match.

And then came the much awaited contest of the day as the men’s second seed took on the third seed. Djokovic had beaten Federer at the same stage in 2008 on the way to winning his only Grand Slam and with Nadal out of his way, the Serb knew that he was the favourite to win it again if he overcame the Swiss master.

There was no separating the duo in the first set as both held their serves taking the set into the tiebreak. Federer’s unforced error at 3-2 gave Djokovic the advantage and eventually the set. Djokovic’s lead got better as he broke the Swiss’ serve first up. But Federer broke back twice to race away to a 5-2 lead. But Novak refused to give up and broke back to make it twice and then he broke Roger’s serve again to take the second set 7-5.

Djokovic saved three break points in the first game of the third set and then broke Federer’s serve. But being the true champion that he is, Federer broke back to make it 4-4. But the Serb wasn’t taking this match any further as he broke the Swiss’s serve yet again and clinched the set and the match to move into the final and send another higher ranked seed out of the Australian Open.

Tags: Australian Open, Grand Slam, Kim Clijsters, Na Li, Rafael Nadal, Tennis