Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova reach final. Stanislas Wawrinka beats Tomas Berdych in first semi-final.
The pair made of the Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau and Indian player Sania Mirza on Thursday in Melbourne qualified for the semifinals of the mixed doubles competition at the Australian open, the first Grand Slam of the year, after defeating, 6-3, 6-4, the pair Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan)/Julia Goerges (Germany), Agerpres informs.
Tecau and Mirza, Seeds No. 6, will meet in the semifinals against the Australian pair Matthew Ebden/Jarmila Gajdosova, which defeated Seeds No. 2, Rohan Bopanna (India)/Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) in the quarterfinals. Horia Tecau and Sania Mirza have already won a cheque worth 33,900 Australian dollars on their names for qualifying to the semifinals.
Tecau has won the title in the mixed doubles competition at Australian Open in 2012, together with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova will compete for the Australian Open title after both enjoyed convincing semi-final victories, the BBC informs.
Li dominated against teenager Eugenie Bouchard, racing into a 5-0 lead in 14 minutes before winning 6-2 6-4 to progress to her third Melbourne final.
Cibulkova produced a stirring display to shock fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2 and reach her first Grand Slam final. The Slovakian broke in the opening game and was in complete control throughout.
Radwanska had also excelled earlier in the competition, beating two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarter-finals, but her play was sluggish and she could not cope with an inspired Cibulkova.
Stanislas Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych to reach his first Grand Slam final and raise the prospect of an all-Swiss title decider at the Australian Open. The 28-year-old, seeded seventh, defeated the Czech eighth seed 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4).
After breaking new ground by reaching last year’s US Open semi-finals, Wawrinka is into his first major final.And he could face compatriot Roger Federer, who takes on Rafael Nadal in Friday’s second semi-final.
