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Li beats Radwanska to make Melbourne last four

Li Na of China hits a return to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during their women's singles quarter-final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne /
updated 9:18 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2013

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Li Na wore down Agnieszka Radwanska with a barrage of power-hitting to beat the fourth seed 7-5 6-3 and advance to her third semi-final at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

The Chinese sixth seed overcame her customary slow start to edge the Pole in a tight first set and after trailing 2-0 in the second, reeled off five straight games to march to the brink of victory in bright sunshine at Rod Laver Arena.

Li survived a late wobble conceding two break points when serving for the match, but reeled off five straight points to seal it after 102 minutes when Radwanska pushed a forehand long.

Li, runner-up to Kim Clijsters in 2011, will face the winner Of the match between second seed Maria Sharapova and fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the final.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom. Editing by Patrick Johnston)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

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