China kept their Australian Open hope alive as Sun Tiantian paired up with Serbian Nenad Zimonjic to qualify for the mixed doubles final yesterday.

Sun/Zimonjic came back from one set down to overcome fellow Chinese Yan Zi and Mark Knowles from Bahamas 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 to take on Indian pair Sania Mirza/Mahesh Bhupathi, who pushed aside eighth seed French Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram of Israel 6-4, 6-2 in another semifinal on Friday.

"I did not have any pressure. Nenad told me before the match just to play fun so I did," said Sun, who partnered with Li Ting to win the women's doubles at the Athens Olympic Games four years ago.

"Actually we had a lot of chances in the first set but failed to convert them. I think I was lucky to come through because Yan Zi also played a good match," she added.