No. 3 seed, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, won a hard-fought semifinal match over No. 11 seed, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, to advance to her first ever major final at the 2012 Australian Open.
Azarenka won the first set 6-4, then fell apart to lose the 2nd set 1-6. Clijsters was broken early in the 3rd set, but surged back, saving many game points to break back. Azarenka, however, stayed strong, breaking three times in the third set to secure victory in only her second appearance in the semifinal of a major.
Azarenka will play either Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova or 2008 Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova in the Saturday night final. Azarenka, Kvitova and Sharapova can all finish the tournament with the No. 1 ranking.
