Sydney: World number five Juan Martin del Potro powered his way into his first Sydney International final with a straight sets demolition of Dmitry Tursunov on Friday.
Del Potro had his big serve firing as he rolled to a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Russian fourth seed in 64 minutes. Del Potro, the top seed, will face either Australian defending champion Bernard Tomic or Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky in Saturday's decider.
The first Argentine to reach the Sydney final since David Nalbandian in 2009, del Potro broke Tursunov's serve three times and was formidable on his own service. He thundered down nine aces, making it 38 aces in his three wins so far in Sydney.
It will be his 25th career final and he is looking to step up for his second major title since downing Roger Federer to win the 2009 US Open in New York. "It is one of my biggest challenges for this season," he said. "I was close to reaching last year's Wimbledon final when I lost to Novak Djokovic in a great five-set semi-final but I think I am getting closer to the top four guys.
"They are still playing so well and they are the favourites for every Grand Slam, but I have the experience in this kind of tournament and if I play well, if I'm fit and healthy I will try to be dangerous for them."
Del Potro was drawn Friday in world number one Rafael Nadal's top quarter of the men's singles draw for next week's Australian Open in Melbourne, and will play a qualifier first up.
Williams, Li in top half of Australian Open draw
Williams, Li in top half of Australian Open draw
MELBOURNE: World number one Serena Williams faces a potential semi-final with China's Li Na following Friday's women's draw for the Australian Open.
Williams, who could equal Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert's total of 18 Grand Slam singles titles with victory at Melbourne Park, will play Australian Ashleigh Barty first up. The American, a five-time Australian Open champion, is seeded to face Italy's seventh seed Sara Errani in the quarters before a potential semi-final clash with fourth-seeded Li.
Li, who lost to Victoria Azarenka in last year's final, is drawn to face Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova in the last eight.
Two-time defending champion and world number two Azarenka will play Sweden's Johanna Larsson in the opening round and has a potential quarter-final with Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
Russian third seed Maria Sharapova, a winner in Melbourne in 2008, faces a tough opening round against American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Mattek-Sands upset top seed Radwanska at this week's Sydney International, but later withdrew from the tournament with back trouble. Sharapova was seeded to face Serbian eight seed Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals.
Williams, Li in top half of Australian Open draw
Williams, Li in top half of Australian Open draw
MELBOURNE: World number one Rafael Nadal will play rising Australian star Bernard Tomic in the opening round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Spaniard, who won the tournament in 2009 and missed last year's opening Grand Slam through injury, faces a testing first round encounter against the world number 52 on Monday. Tomic was due to play Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky in the Sydney International semi-finals later Friday in the defence of his title.
In the draw made in Melbourne on Friday, Nadal was seeded to face Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the quarters. Serbia's world number two Novak Djokovic, bidding for his fifth Australian crown and fourth in a row, was drawn to face Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the last eight. Djokovic must first play Slovakia's Lukas Lacko in the opening round in the bottom half of the men's draw.
Britain's three-time runner-up Andy Murray was seeded to face 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the quarter-finals in the top half of the draw. Wimbledon champion Murray will play Japan's Go Soeda first-up. Federer, a four-time winner in Melbourne, meets Australian wild card James Duckworth in the opening round and could face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round.
Spanish third seed David Ferrer was drawn to face Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych in the other quarter-final. Unseeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt was in Nadal's side of the draw and faces Italian 24th seed Andreas Seppi in the first round.
