Sydney, Australia (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska won her
semifinal matchup on Thursday, while No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber was upended
at the Sydney International, a final Australian Open tune-up.
The world No. 4 Radwanska, who was last week's champion in Auckland,
handled fourth-seeded Chinese slugger Li Na at Sydney Olympic Park
Tennis Centre. Li was fresh off her season-opening title in Shenzhen in her
native China, was last year's Sydney runner-up to Victoria Azarenka, and
captured this event in 2011.
Radwanska saved 4-of-6 break-point opportunities and took advantage of five
double faults from Li en route to a 6-3, 6-4 triumph.
The Wimbledon runner-up Radwanska has yet to drop a match this season and
will be looking for her 12th career title when she takes on Slovak and fellow
23-year-old Dominika Cibulkova in Friday's final.
Cibulkova knocked off the left-handed German Kerber 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to secure
a spot in her seventh career final.
The diminutive Cibulkova is the first unseeded finalist in Sydney since Jelena
Jankovic made a trek into the final here in 2007. Overall, she's just the
fifth unseeded woman to reach the final since 1990, joining Jankovic,
Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams and Sam Stosur.
Cibulkova, who owns two career WTA titles, has dropped all three previous
meetings with Radwanska.
The Sports Network