<p>Li survived a blistering start by the German in both sets to defeat Petkovic in 80 minutes at Rod Laver Arena, keeping alive Chinese hopes of a first Grand Slam singles title.<br />The Chinese world number 11 won the Sydney International in the lead-up to the Australian Open and showed she is still in great touch as she defused any threat from the 23-year-old Petkovic.<br /><br />Petkovic had shown no signs of nerves at the start as she broke Li and held her own serve to open a 2-0 lead. But the Chinese number one, who made six unforced errors in the first two games, found her range and soon began to dominate the rallies with her powerful and flat ground strokes.<br /><br />She pressured Petkovic's serve and was paricularly savage on the German's weaker second serve as she won six games in a row to take the first set in 36 minutes.<br />The German regrouped at the start of the second, again breaking Li's serve and holding her own to go to 2-0 up, but then served a horrible service game to give the break straight back.<br /><br />Games went with serve until 5-4 when Petkovic made four wild unforced errors on her forehand to hand the quarter-final to Li. "There were no easy games, the score was 6-2, 6-4 but we still played a lot of tennis," Li said. "She's a good player but I was a little bit better today." Li has broken a host of records for Chinese tennis -- the first player to win a tour event, the first to break into the top 10 and the first to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.<br /><br />She next plays either top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or Italy's Francesca Schiavone in the semi-finals and must now be considered a genuine contender to secure China's maiden Grand Slam title. "I have had some great matches in Australia -- this is my second time in the Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open," she said.<br />"I played really well in Sydney and I hope I can do better here this year. I don't want to lose in the semis again."</p>
<p>Li survived a blistering start by the German in both sets to defeat Petkovic in 80 minutes at Rod Laver Arena, keeping alive Chinese hopes of a first Grand Slam singles title.<br />The Chinese world number 11 won the Sydney International in the lead-up to the Australian Open and showed she is still in great touch as she defused any threat from the 23-year-old Petkovic.<br /><br />Petkovic had shown no signs of nerves at the start as she broke Li and held her own serve to open a 2-0 lead. But the Chinese number one, who made six unforced errors in the first two games, found her range and soon began to dominate the rallies with her powerful and flat ground strokes.<br /><br />She pressured Petkovic's serve and was paricularly savage on the German's weaker second serve as she won six games in a row to take the first set in 36 minutes.<br />The German regrouped at the start of the second, again breaking Li's serve and holding her own to go to 2-0 up, but then served a horrible service game to give the break straight back.<br /><br />Games went with serve until 5-4 when Petkovic made four wild unforced errors on her forehand to hand the quarter-final to Li. "There were no easy games, the score was 6-2, 6-4 but we still played a lot of tennis," Li said. "She's a good player but I was a little bit better today." Li has broken a host of records for Chinese tennis -- the first player to win a tour event, the first to break into the top 10 and the first to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.<br /><br />She next plays either top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark or Italy's Francesca Schiavone in the semi-finals and must now be considered a genuine contender to secure China's maiden Grand Slam title. "I have had some great matches in Australia -- this is my second time in the Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open," she said.<br />"I played really well in Sydney and I hope I can do better here this year. I don't want to lose in the semis again."</p>