The eyes of China were fixed upon the women’s singles semifinals at the 2010 Australian Open. After two homeland heroes were dismissed on Thursday afternoon, the world’s most populous nation might not remain riveted to the rectangle inside Rod Laver Arena.

When one considers the quality of the matchup that’s been established for Saturday’s women’s championship match, Chinese tennis fans would do well to plunk themselves before a television set and drink up the drama that’s sure to unfold when Serena Williams and Justine Henin duke it out for the year’s first Major title. However, it would be hard to blame the people of China if they ignored tennis after Thursday’s difficult day at the central office of the Melbourne Park tennis complex.

On an historic afternoon, two Chinese women contested a pair of Major championship singles semifinals for the first time ever. In the first semifinal of the day, 16th-seeded Li Na took on world No. 1 Serena Williams, the best female tennis player of the past 10 years. In the second semifinal, unseeded Zheng Jie brought her equipment bag to the world’s most famous plexicushion court for a date with one of her idols, seven-time Major champion Justine Henin, the second-best female tennis player of the past 10 years.

One match proved to be a mighty scrap, while the other evaporated into thin air after less than an hour, but in the end, the scoreboard results were sadly the same for China and its two gallant challengers. Serena needed 2 hours and 2 minutes to win a straight-set slugfest against Li, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1), while Henin required just 51 minutes to brush aside Zheng, 6-0, 6-1. Serena and Henin will proceed to a dream final, while China’s two underdogs leave Melbourne Park with hundreds of thousands of dollars and increased respect from the WTA Tour locker room.

In the first semifinal, Li had her chances to write a different narrative against Serena, who had to play the day’s early match so that she could contest the women’s doubles semifinals later that night with sister Venus Williams. Serena’s body was dragging for much of the match, and as a result, the fitter and fresher Li was able to hang with the world No. 1 in extended rallies.

By merely running down balls and keeping the yellow pill within the field of play, Li forced Serena to strike a balance between aggressiveness and patience, between attack-oriented tennis and energy conservation. This tightrope was hard for Serena to walk, and when the underdog gained a 6-5, 30-15 lead in the first set on Serena’s serve, there was a distinct possibility of an emergent upset.

Right then, however, Li flinched. An easy, standard-issue groundstroke flew long for the No. 16 seed, who felt the tension of her first-ever Major semifinal. On the next point at 30-all, Li missed a running crosscourt forehand that, while not exactly easy, merely needed to be bunted into the open court in order to produce a winner. The shot floated into the net, however, and Serena gained another reprieve. The best closer in women’s tennis took advantage, held for 6-all, and then outlasted Li, 7-4, in a sloppy tiebreak that featured six straight points won by the receiver.

In set two, a similar narrative emerged: Li had her chances, but couldn’t convert. Serena would promptly punish her foe for failing to deliver a dagger.

A second straight tiebreak would not only decide the second set, but very likely the outcome of the match. Much as Serena used a second-set tiebreak win to turn around her three-set quarterfinal victory over Victoria Azarenka the day before, Li had a chance to use a second-set breakthrough as a pivot point in a potential three-set conquest of a physically flagging opponent.

In the first few points of the tiebreak, Li dictated the form and flow of the rallies, but nervous errors – particularly at 1-2 and 1-4 – ended any and all hope of an all-Chinese final. Serena displayed spectacular defense to win a 1-all rally in that telling tiebreak, but for most of the eight points played in that sequence, Li simply couldn’t keep the ball between the white lines. The progression of events reminded tennis fans that great champions don’t have to make highlight-reel plays; they simply need to make fewer mistakes.

In the second semifinal, drama briefly entered the building when Zheng, a small woman (under 5-foot-5) but a huge underdog, gained break point on Henin’s serve at 1-2, 30-40. However, a badly butchered forehand from Zheng allowed Henin to hold for 3-1 and breathe a sigh of relief. That one moment – which had a liberating effect on a great champion – enabled Henin to hit freely and overwhelm her less credentialed adversary. A steamroller gained momentum, and never stopped rolling over the next 40 minutes. Without any shred of suspense, the Belgian superstar claimed 12 of 13 games and finalized the ultimate encounter tennis fans have been waiting for.

Chinese tennis fans had a great 12-day run at this tournament. One can only hope they’ll turn on their televisions one more time when two all-time greats take the court in Saturday’s women’s singles final at the 2010 Australian Open.