Chinese duo Yan Zi and Zheng Jie beat Japan's Shinobu Asagoe and her Slovak partner Katarina Srebotnik to advance into the Australian Open women's doubles final in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The 12th seeds won 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) in 85 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

It is the Chinese pair's first Grand Slam final and caps a breakthrough 12 months in which they have won two doubles championships, at Hobart and Hyderabad last year, while reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2006)