Second Slam for Li

China's Li Na poses with the Australian Open trophy after her victory against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the women's singles final in Melbourne yesterday. Photo: AFP

China's Li Na battled past Dominika Cibulkova at the Australian Open Saturday to storm to her second Grand Slam title, giving another huge boost to Asian tennis and earning glowing praise in her home country.
The 31-year-old fourth seed's 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 win crowned her the champion on her third attempt after losing the 2011 and 2013 finals, adding to the French Open title she won three years ago.
In doing so, she became the oldest winner of the women's title, surpassing Margaret Court who was 30 when she became champion in 1973.
The Chinese star also joins an exclusive list of just seven other players to win a Grand Slam at 30-plus, with her name now in the history books alongside greats such as Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Serena Williams.
While it was Li's fourth Grand Slam final, it was the first for Cibulkova and that crucial experience was put to good use to take out the Slovak after a tight first set lasting 70 minutes.
"I would like to say age is nothing. I can still win a Grand Slam," Li said. "So I'm pretty happy about my age. I got more experience on the court."
The win pushes her one place higher in the world rankings to three, just 11 points adrift of Victoria Azarenka in second place behind Serena Williams.
It was a gutsy effort by the Chinese star, who overcame the pressure of having lost twice before while bearing the weight of expectation from her homeland of 1.3 billion people.
After her win, the state-run Xinhua news agency led the praise in China for a player affectionately known as "big sister" by her adoring fans.
"Congratulations sister Na!" it said on its Weibo microblog.
Li's 2011 French Open victory, the first Grand Slam win by an Asian player, dramatically raised the profile of tennis in China and she has become the figurehead for a push into Asia by women's tennis.
"Tough," she said when asked to sum up the fortnight at Melbourne Park, where she had to battle searing heat and rally from a match point down in her third round clash with Lucie Safarova.
While the diminutive Cibulkova, nicknamed the "pocket rocket" has been in the best form of her life, Li was always the favourite and the Slovak said it had been a learning curve.
"This has been a fantastic two weeks of my life and I think I'm going to cry," said a tearful Cibulkova, 24, the first person from her country to make a Grand Slam final.