First seed Victoria Azarenka had her hands full in the later half of her match, but overcame the challenge of supremely confident 29th seed Sloane Stephens.
Azarenka, 23, beat the American Stephens, 19, 6-1, 6-4 to earn herself the right to defend her Australian Open championship.
After the match, Azarenka was slightly more emotional than her usual cheerful self.
“It was almost choke of the year,” she said in a post match ESPN interview. “I was a bit overwhelmed. Just one step away from the finals, nerves got into me . . . I just couldn’t lose.”
The world’s number one Azarenka seemed to have little difficulty early, taking the first set 6-1, breaking Stephens three times, dishing out 10 winners in a 33-minute set.
In a tough, back and forth second set Azarenka was broken at 5-3 with her chance to serve out the set.
In winning the game, Stephens put the set on serve nearing the end of the second set.
The first seed then took a 10-minute off-court medical break to deal with knee and chest injuries.
She would go on to break Stephens the next game, finishing the 68-minute set and punching her ticket back to the finals.
She will meet fifth seeded Li Na in the finals. It will be the first time the two meet in a Grand Slam final.
“I expect her to play her best,” Azarenka said of Li to the ESPN reporters. “It’s the finals, you have to give it all, give your heart, give everything, I’m going to fight like hell.”
Fight like hell she will have to do. Azarenka’s opponent, Li, 30, has yet to drop a set all tournament and dominated second seed Maria Sharapova in the other semifinal.
Azarenka and Na have faced each other nine times since their first meeting in 2008. Azarenka leads the series 5-4, and has also taken the last four encounters.
