Venus gives loser’s tips to sister Serena, who wins to advance to fifth Australian Open final

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Sisterly advice helps Serena Williams into final

MELBOURNE, Australia — After Venus Williams lost at the Australian Open, ending any chance of an all-Williams semifinal, she did all she could to ensure at least one family member would be there.

Venus gave younger sister Serena some tips on how to play China’s Li Na, who upset Venus in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

“She told me how to play her and what to do,” Serena said. “She had chances yesterday and she knew how to play her. It always helps when you have someone who can help you out.”

Serena Williams appreciated the assistance, beating Li 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) Thursday for her 50th career win at Melbourne Park and advancing her to her fifth Australian Open final.

It’ll be against Justine Henin, who is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament in two years since ending a 20-month retirement.

Henin wasted little time beating Zheng Jie in the second semifinal 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes. It was the first time that two Chinese players had advanced to the semifinal of a major, but Williams and Henin stopped the numerous Chinese flags at Rod Laver Arena from being raised too often in jubilation.

“Good for both players,” Li said. “Also good for China tennis. I think if the children, they see this, maybe they will be more confident and think they can do it some day too.”

Unfortunately for Zheng, it was the most lopsided women’s semifinal at the Australian Open since Chris Evert beat Andrea Jaeger by the same score in 1982.

“It was perfect,” said Henin, who had to beat Olympic gold medalist and No. 5-ranked Elena Dementieva just to get past the second round. “I had enough tennis in the past two weeks so it was good to have a pretty easy match. I can’t wait for the final.”

No. 5 Andy Murray and No. 14 Marin Cilic played Thursday night in a semifinal. Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will play the other semi on Friday, with the winners meeting in Sunday night’s final.

Serena Williams has won the title every time she’s played the final here since beating Venus here in 2003. The winning sequence has been every odd-numbered year so far.

“I really should have won sooner … I had so many match points and I blew it and I knew I couldn’t mess up my serve because she never gives up,” Williams said of her win over Li. “She’s a real, real amazing fighter.

“Every time I had match points she came up with some big serves and great shots. She just goes for broke.”

Serena, the 11-time Grand Slam singles champion, and Venus, the defending champions in doubles, later beat Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the semifinals. They’ll play No. 1 Cara Black and Liezel Huber in Friday’s final.

Henin is unranked and two tournaments into her comeback, hoping to emulate fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters’ win at the U.S. Open last September.

Clijsters was only three tournaments into a comeback from two years off, and playing on a wild card entry, when she beat both Williams sisters en route to winning the title at New York.

Williams is hoping for better against a Belgian on the comeback this time. Her semifinal loss to Clijsters in New York cost her a record $82,500 fine for a tirade against a line judge who called her for a foot fault.

Against Li, she got on top by breaking in the opening game.

In the tiebreaker, Williams picked up four of her last five points on unforced errors by Li and then clinched the 58-minute set with a second-service ace.

The second set went on serve, with Li fending off three match points in the 10th game and another in the 12th to force a second tiebreaker. Again, Williams dominated the tiebreaker to race to a 6-1 lead, closing with her 12th ace of the match.

Venus Williams, who had a chance to serve for the quarterfinal on Wednesday against Li before she lost, was watching from the stands.

Serena Williams leads Henin 7-6 in career head-to-heads, although they’ve never met in a Grand Slam final. Williams won their last match, at Miami in 2008, just before Henin retired suddenly while holding the No. 1 ranking.

“It’s such an amazing chance that I have to play another final in Melbourne,” said Henin, who won the 2004 title in Melbourne and retired with stomach problems during the 2006 final against Amelie Mauresmo. “It’s a very special occasion, but the dream continues.”