Li beats Bouchard to make Aussie Open final

Li Na of China. AP FILE PHOTO

MELBOURNE – China’s Li Na swept into her second consecutive Australian Open final on Thursday, using her experience to brush aside Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets.

The fourth seed ended the 19-year-old’s inspiring run at Melbourne Park 6-2, 6-4 and will play either fifth seed Agniezska Radwanska or 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday’s final.

No. 4-seeded Li, the 2011 French Open champion, is the only major winner and the highest-ranked player still in contention after the fourth-round upsets of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova and defending champion Victoria Azarenka’s quarterfinal loss to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

No. 5-seeded Radwanska was playing Dominika Cibulkova in the second semifinal later Thursday.

Li, who lost last year’s final to Azarenka, was aggressive from the start against Bouchard, who started nervously and didn’t win a point in her first three service games.

Fittingly, she finished off the match with a backhand crosscourt, one of 16 backhand winners in the match and her biggest weapon against Bouchard.