Australian Open, Melbourne
Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 17-30 January
Coverage: Watch on BBC TV, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only) & Eurosport; listen on BBC 5 live sports extra and online; text commentary online; full details  Wozniacki is through to her first semi-final in Melbourne
World number one Caroline Wozniacki hit back from a set and a break down to beat Francesca Schiavone and reach the Australian Open semi-finals. Schiavone needed a Grand Slam record four hours and 44 minutes to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in round four, and came close to another stunning win. But Wozniacki turned the match around with five games in a row in the second set to come through 3-6 6-3 6-3. The 20-year-old Dane will face China's Li Na in the semis. Her quest for a first Grand Slam title remains on track despite being pushed to the limit by a performance of huge heart from Schiavone, who saved three match points on her way to breaking serve in the penultimate game before finally succumbing.  | Hopefully I can do better this year, I don't want to lose in the semi again |
"Francesca is such a fighter," said Wozniacki. "She started really well and I didn't have my timing at the beginning but I fought back and I am so happy to have won the match. "I didn't have too many chances in the first set and Francesca was very good at the key moments but I just tried to step into the court a bit more and dictate the points." There had been few signs of fatigue from Schiavone in the early stages as she saw off three early break points before moving 5-3 ahead and serving out the first set. Wozniacki took a medical time-out at the end of the set for treatment on an upper leg injury and was broken soon after as Schiavone went 3-1 clear. But the top seed has battling qualities of her own and reeled off five games in a row to get back in the match, before earning a double break at 5-2 in the decider. Schiavone had one more charge left in her and thrilled the Melbourne crowd in the eighth game by repeatedly keeping Wozniacki at bay, but after saving three match points to get one of the breaks back the Italian finally ran out of gas and dropped her own serve. Ninth seedLi beat German 30th seed Andrea Petkovic 6-2 6-4 in the first of the quarter-finals. | 606: DEBATE |
After losing the opening two games, ninth seed Li rattled off the next six to take the opening set in 33 minutes. The 28-year-old also began badly in the second, conceding her serve, as Petkovic fought hard to keep pace. But Petkovic blazed long under pressure to send Li through to face Caroline Wozniacki or Francesca Schiavone next. Li beat Wozniacki and Venus Williams on her way to the semi-finals last year and is unbeaten so far this season after overcoming Kim Clijsters to win the Sydney International. "She was a good player with a big serve but in think today I played a little bit better than her," said Li of her win over Petkovic. "Hopefully I can do better this year, I don't want to lose in the semi again." It was Petkovic though, a finalist at the Brisbane International earlier this month, who started the stronger. The 23-year-old is the first German women to make the quarter-finals since Steffi Graf in 1999 and showed some of the four-time champion's fighting spirit as she forced a break from 40-0 down in the opening game. However, Petkovic was soon forced into retreat as Li's fierce, flat ball-striking began to dictate points and a break in the fourth game restored parity at 2-2. Petkovic's serve began to creak under pressure and she pushed a forehand long to slip 4-2 adrift before folding rather meekly in the eighth and final game of the set. By contrast, after the hiccup in the first game, Li's serve had looked impenetrable with three subsequent service games to love. Petkovic's success with drop-shot in the opening game of the second seemed to plant doubts in Li's mind though as she was broken in the opening game of the second. Li broke back to love in the third and held to love in fourth, but Petkovic refused to collapse as she had in the opener. Her nerve finally failed her though as she served to stay in the match and a string of wayward forehands saw the match slide away.
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