China defeated Australia 74-60 in the FIBA Women's Asia Cup semifinals at the State Sports Centre in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday, reaching the tournament's final, where they will play Japan for the title in 24 hours.

This was China's second victory over Australia in major international competitions after defeating them 61-59 in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup semifinals last year at the same court.

Australia are one of the few teams in the Asia Cup that can match China in size and power. They made Saturday's game very physical from the beginning. Zhang Ru was called for three personal fouls in less than four minutes. China missed all of their first nine shots, trailing 5-0.

Wang Siyu was sent to the court by China's head coach Zheng Wei to speed up for more easy buckets via fast break. She lived up to the coach’s trust with six points, four rebounds and four assists in the first quarter, helping her side come back to lead 18-11.

China's ace pair of Han Xu and Li Meng began to dominate the paint in the second quarter. Their performances enabled the team to stand up to Australia's sharp counterstrike. Han even beat the buzzer from the 3-point line to keep China leading 35-32 in the first half.

Han continued to provide consistent firepower in the third quarter as she made another two 3-pointers. Though Li had to sit on the bench after committing three personal fouls in this period, Han's efforts extended China's lead to 10 points (53-43).

China retained control of the situation in the fourth quarter and grew their lead point by point until securing a double-digit win. The only bad news is that Yang Liwei suffered a knee injury during this period and had to quit the game.

In the other semifinal game earlier in the day, Japan beat New Zealand 88-52.