MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Kim Clijsters advanced to the Australian Open final with a comfortable win over Vera Zvonareva and will play for the title against Li Na, who saved a match point en route to becoming the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam championship final.
Li rallied to win the first of the women’s semifinals 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 Thursday after top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki served for the match with a 5-4 lead in the second set.
U.S. Open champion Clijsters, the only major winner among the four semifinalists, dictated play from the start against No. 2-ranked Zvonareva and won it 6-3, 6-3 — repeating the result of their U.S. Open final. Zvonareva had reached the previous two finals at the majors.
