Sania Mirza from India played some ofthe best tennis of her career by defeating top seed Li Na from China in the women's singles semifinals at the Asian Games tennis tournament on Tuesday.

But China's hopes of clinching the women's singles title was kept alive as second seed Zheng Jie advanced into the final after beating Japan's third seed Aiko Nakamura 6-3, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Li, who hadn't hit top gear since the team event at the December 4-14 tournament, conceded a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Mirza in just one hour and five minutes at the Center Court of the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

Li acknowledged Mirza's excellent performance.

"She just played really, really well and there was nothing I could do about it," said 24-year-old Li, who made history for Chinese by reaching last eight at the Wimbledon Open this year.

"She deserved to win," Li added.

In the men's singles, Lee Hyung Taik from South Korea, a silvermedalist in the 2002 Games, came one step closer to the gold medal,defeating Cecil Mamiit of the Philippines 7-5, 6-0 in the semifinals.

In the other semifinal, third seed Danai Udomchoke from Thailand overcame Japanese Go Soeda 6-0, 2-6, 6-2.

In the men's doubles, the top two seeds, Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi from India and the Thai twins Ratiwatanas, made it to thefinal.

In the women's doubles, Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung Jan and Chuang Chia Jung upset China's second seeds and Olympic champions Li Ting/Sun Tiantian to reach the final. They will face another Chinese pair Zheng Jie/Yan Zi.

Paes and Mirza have another chance of winning gold when they paired up to win a mixed doubles semifinal against Chinese Yu Xinyuan/Sun Tiantian, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.

The Indians will take on Japanese Satoshi Iwabuchi/Akiko Morigami in the final.

Editor: Donald