Li Na to meet Sharapova in semifinals while Ferrer takes on Djokovic

 　　MELBOURNE, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Li Na reached her third Australian Open semifinals in four years on Tuesday and will play Maria Sharapova while defending champion Novak Djokovic eased into the men's semis to meet David Ferrer.

　　Former French Open champion Li knocked out fourth-seeded Polish Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets.

　　Li ended the Polish's 13-match winning streak¹ to reach her third semifinal at the Melbourne Park. She made the last four here in 2010 and 2011. Li lost to Kim Clijsters in 2011 final just before she took her first and only Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2011.

　　The 6-2, 6-2 quarterfinal victory against fellow Ekaterina Makarova not only set Sharapova up a semifinal encounter with Li, but also saw a new record set by the world No. 2 -- Sharapova lost only nine games in five matches.

　　Sharapova double-bagelled her first two matches 6-0, 6-0, and then beat Venus Williams 6-1, 6-3 and Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-0, beating Monia Seles' Australian Open record of losing 12 games before the semifinals.

　　Heading to a historical three Australian Open titles in a row, defending champion Djokovic bounced back from a marathon five-set fourth-round match just 48 hours earlier when he beat Czech Tomas Berdych 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a much easier way.

　　The Serbian world No.1 showed little rustiness² from that late finish to complete the quarterfinal in two hours 31 minutes.

　　"It was a great performance. I was hoping to have a shorter match, whoever won tonight, as long as it didn't go over five hours," Djokovic joked.

　　The victory guaranteed Djokovic's 11th consecutive³ Grand Slam semifinals and his semifinal opponent will be Spaniard Ferrer, who fought back from two sets down to beat his Spanish Davis Cup teammate Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-2.

　　Almagro had never beaten his compatriot in 12 previous attempts but appeared set to put the record straight when he took the first two sets and was serving for the third at 5-4.

　　But the Spaniard wasted the opportunity and ailed⁴ twice more in the fourth set to serve out for the match as Ferrer fought to seal his progression.

1 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

2 rustiness   

生锈，声音沙哑； 荒疏； 锈蚀

参考例句：

• His rustiness showed when he was asked to speed up. 当被要求加速时，他显得非常迟钝。
• His rustiness had become a attraction to the public. 他那沙哑的讲话声，也成了公众迷醉于他的一个重要因素。

3 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

4 ailed   

v.生病( ail的过去式和过去分词 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳

参考例句：

• Never in his life had Robin ailed before. 罗宾过去从未生过病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I wasn't in form, that's what ailed me.\" 我的竞技状态不佳，我输就输在这一点上。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹