After years of endeavor, disappointment and tears, Li Na finally got her hands on the trophy in Melbourne. David Garret now looks back on Li’s Australian journey, which ended in her claiming that second Grand Slam crown.

Li Na got her Melbourne run started with an easy win over Ana Konjuh of Croatia. The teenager, was clearly outmatched from the get go... taking part in her first ever Grand Slam. Li took the first set 6-2 and it wouldn’t be long until this one was over. A 6-love win for Li in set two saw her roll on.

Li’s second round opponent, another sixteen year old, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, didn’t provide Li with much of a test early on. The Chinese rolled to a 6-love first set win. The 16 teenager pushed Li to a tie-break in the second, but Li would prevail to reach round three.

There though, the 2011 French Open champion, ran into some trouble against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic. Li dropped the first set 6-1 and was forced to fight off a match point in the second set. Li though, gutted out the win in a tie-break and then took the third set to move on to round four.

After her close call, Li upped her game a notch, cruising past Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova to reach the quarter-finals. Li easily advancing to the quarters with a 6-2, 6-love win.

And there Italy’s Flavia Pennetta didn’t give last year’s runner-up any problems. Li...breezing into semi-finals easily 6-2, 6-2.

That win set up Li with a chance to advance to her third Australian Open final in four years...if she could knock off upstart Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. And Li would end the Cinderella run of the 30th seed...and advance to the final. Facing Dominika Cibulkova in the final, Li struggled with her serve and forehand for most of the night. But grabbed the first set after a breath-taking tiebreak, the fourth seed left her Slovak opponent with no chance and swept to victory 6-love in the second set.