JOIN USAgnieszka Radwanska needed eight match points to finish off Li Na on Thursday but confirmed her fine pre-Australian Open form by maintaining her perfect start to the year and reaching the final of the Sydney International.
The Polish top seed was well worth the 6-3, 6-4 win over her Chinese opponent and will face Dominika Cibulkova in Friday's final after the Slovakian stun-ned German second seed Angelique Kerber 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
David Ferrer swept aside Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-1 to remain on course for a fourth title at the Auckland Open.
The Spaniard set up a semifinal against France's Gael Monfils, who later beat Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Tomas Berdych had a less enjoyable day down at Kooyong where he was humbled 6-3, 6-2 by Australia's resurgent former world number one Lleyton Hewitt. The Pole broke on Li's first service game and rarely looked back before stuttering to close out the match.
Like Hewitt, Australian young gun Bernard Tomic proved he was a player to be avoided in Friday's draw for the Australian Open with a quarterfinal victory.
The 20-year-old came from a set down to beat defending champion Jarkko Nieminen 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. Tomic will play Andreas Seppi in the semifinals after the Italian third seed beat Marcel Granollers 6-4, 7-5.
Frenchman Julien Benneteau earlier cruised past American qualifier Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-2 and will play Kevin Anderson for a place in the final after the South African had an equally emphatic 6-4, 6-3 win over Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
Sam Querrey overcame Canada's Jesse Levine 6-4, 7-6 in Auckland and will face Philipp Kohlschreiber in the semifinals after the German beat Xavier Malisse 7-6, 6-4.