Li Na reaches Australian Open quarterfinals

MELBOURNE - China's top player Li Na reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinals in one year and a half here on Sunday with a 7-6, 6-1 win over German 18th seed Julia Goerges.

Li Na of China hits a return to Julia Goerges of Germany during their women's singles match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 20, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

The last time Li reached the top eight at a Grand Slam tournament was 2011 French Open when she won Asian players' first Grand Slam title.

Li saved one set point at 5-6 in the first set tiebreak before capturing the next three point, and the set. Then the world No.6 became untouchable to win the second set 6-1 and complete the match in just 86 minutes.

"If I had lost the first set it could have been another story," Li said. "I didn't try to think about the score."

Li's quarterfinal opponent will be Polish fourth seed Agineszka Radwanska who crushed Serbian 13th seed Ana Ivanoic 6-2, 6-4.

The Chinese player, runner at the Melbourne Park in 2010, holds a 5-4 head-to-head advantage over the 23-year-old Radwanska but lost their more recent meeting 3-6, 4-6 last week in Sydney.

In the bottom half of the draw, Li, Radwanska and second seed Maria Sharapova are yet to drop a set. But Radwanska had never made it past the quarterfinals in Melbourne.

Li is now the last remaining Asian player in the singles draw, following Japan's 16th-seeded Kei Nishikori was defeated by Spaniard David Ferrer earlier on Sunday

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