Li Na of China acknowledges the crowd after winning her semifinal match against Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic at the Sydney International Tennis Tournament Thursday. — Reuters SYDNEY – Defending champion Li Na reached the Sydney International final with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 over Petra Kvitova on Thursday, ending the Czech's bid to become No. 1 before the Australian Open. Kvitova needed to win the Sydney International to replace Caroline Wozniacki atop the rankings when they're updated Monday, and the Wimbledon champion was on track when she led by a set and a break. But Li rallied strongly to reach back-to-back finals at Sydney, where she'll meet No. 3-ranked Victoria Azarenka in Friday's decider. Azarenka beat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the other semi. Li reached the Australian Open final last year two weeks after winning in Sydney. She went one better at the next major, winning the French Open to become the first player from China to win a Grand Slam singles title. Li's form dipped at the end of last season and she lost in the second round at Wimbledon and the opening round at the US Open, but she started to get back into form in the earlier rounds at Sydney. A pep talk from her husband and coach Shan Jiang after the first set against Kvitova helped refocus Li. “OK, he say, ‘If you play same like this, you'll lose match easy,'” said Li, who has developed a reputation for playfully ridiculing her husband in post-match interviews. After the win over Kvitova, who beat Wozniacki at the Hopman Cup last week, Li said she's back to about where she was at this time last year. In men's quarterfinals, 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis beat top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 7-6 (7), 6-4. Baghdatis, who won the Sydney title two years ago, will face Frenchman Julien Benneteau in Friday's semi-finals after Benneteau beat Russia's Alex Bogomolov Jnr 6-2, 6-4. Also, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat third-seeded Richard Gasquet of France 6-4, 7-6 (4) to set up a semifinal against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, who had a 6-3, 6-3 win over American Bobby Reynolds.
