World"s No. 6 Venus Williams was upset but...

"Absolutely [I"ll be back]. I really love this tournament ... The sky"s the limit in this sport," the tournament"s official website quoted the U.S. tennis star as saying after the match.

This tough victory paved the way for 28-year-old Li Na to her first Grand Slam semifinal and the Chinese player said she hoped it would help to increase the popularity of tennis in China

"I don"t know how it is in China right now. I was feeling [that] maybe tennis in China right now [is getting] bigger and bigger," she said after the match.

For China, where tennis is far from being the most popular sport, this year"s first Grand Slam seems like a gift for their February 14 Lunar New Year, as China"s Zheng Jie also cleared the tournament"s quarterfinals and will be playing on Thursday in the other semifinal, setting up the chance of an all-Chinese final.

MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti)