• Australian Open, Day Ten

Mixed fortunes for Williams sisters

A delighted Li Na celebrates her upset win over Venus Williams © Getty Images

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Day Ten in pictures

Venus Williams is the latest top-ten player to crash out of the women's draw at the Australian Open, defeated by Li Na in three sets. The result means China has two players in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time ever, along with Zheng Jie.

Williams had claimed the first set and started the second well, but that seemed to take the pressure off Li, who then matched the American sixth-seed stroke for stroke to come out on top in a 2-6 7-6 7-5 epic.

In a topsy-turvy match where both players struggled to hold serve, Williams looked to be in winning positions in both the second and third sets before Li lifted to a new level, dominating rallies from the baseline and tiring Williams out by moving her side-to-side in the Melbourne heat. Williams had struggled for rhythm with her serve in previous matches and with those yips returning, in addition to the high summer sun playing havoc with her ball toss, the former world No.1 could not rely on any free points from her normally potent service weapon and eventually succumbed to Li's relentless tempo.

A delighted Li, speaking after the match in her broken English, said it was "the best day of her life" and also spoke of the achievement for Chinese tennis to have a woman in each semi-final.

Serena Williams will have the chance to avenge her sister's loss in the semi-finals after coming from a set and 4-0 down to beat Belarus's Victoria Azarenka 4-6 7-6 6-2. Serena's match played out in almost the exact opposite fashion, as she started off chasing shadows but finished well on top after a spirited fightback.

Williams had not lost a single service game leading up to Wednesday's quarter-final, but that record was blown to pieces as Azarenka broke in four of the American's first seven service games. Azarenka simply overpowered Williams in the first set - no mean feat - and continued until midway through the second when nerves took over, and she lost the next five games.

Both players headed towards a tie-breaker which featured some of the points of the match, before Williams forced the pivotal moment of the contest, first with a sublime forehand winner and then with an ice-cool smash. The Williams serve suddenly fired on all cylinders and Azarenka looked a defeated woman as the American world No. 1 ran away with the third set.

Williams said after the match that she was "surprised" to have won after being so close to elimination. "At a set and 0-4 I thought to myself: 'At least I'm still in doubles'," she said. "I didn't have a champion thought - I thought if I lost in doubles I could catch a flight out on Friday."

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