Victoria Azarenka retained her Australian Open title after beating China's Li Na, who twisted her ankle twice and hit her head during a fall.
Li Na jokes about falls, facing defeat light-heartedly
China's Li Na used her powerful groundstrokes and a strong return of serve against Victoria Azarenka to take the first set of their Australian Open final 6-4 on Saturday.
Li Na is expected to receive the lion's share of crowd support in the Australian Open final on Saturday after Victoria Azarenka was accused of stooping to gamesmanship to reach the title match.
Victoria Azarenka brought Sloane Stephens's Melbourne Park fairytale to an end on Thursday, overcoming injury niggles and an attack of nerves to advance to the Australian Open final against China's Li Na.
Li Na overcame test by hard-hitting Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 to reach her third Grand Slam final in the Melbourne Park on Thursday after finishing as runner-up here two years ago.
Victoria Azarenka returned to her merciless best with a crushing win over Russian Elena Vesnina to make the Australian Open quarterfinals on Monday.
Victoria Azarenka admitted Saturday she needs to improve "everything" to successfully defend her Australian Open title after surviving a scare against injured American Jamie Hampton.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus will finish the year as world number one after a 7-6 6-3 win over China's Li Na in her final round robin match at the WTA Championships on Friday.
American Serena Williams reached the semi-finals at the WTA Tour Championships in Istanbul on Thursday with what is fast becoming a routine defeat of world number one Victoria Azarenka.
Victoria Azarenka moved a step closer to securing the year-end number one ranking with a 6-7 7-6 6-4 win over Germany's Angelique Kerber at the WTA Championships on Wednesday.
World No 1 Victoria Azarenka on Sunday claimed her sixth title this season when she beat German Julia Goerges in straight sets at the Linz WTA tournament.
Azarenka converted five of 12 break points while conceding five fewer unforced errors than Sharapova in a 6-3, 6-1, 86-minute victory to claim her first title in Beijing.
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