The past, present and future of women's tennis will all come together at the Australian Open on Thursday when Serena Williams and Justine Henin square off against Chinese opponents for a place in the final.

Nobody from China has ever reached a Grand Slam singles final but the world's most populous nation still has two players hoping to rewrite the record books this week after Zheng Jie and Li Na both made the semi-finals.

Zheng will come face-to-face with her idol Henin, who has caught the imagination of everyone at Melbourne Park by making the last four in only her second tournament since coming out of retirement.

"It's tough for me but I am happy I can play against her," Zheng said. "She is my favourite player. I don't have anything to lose."

The tennis world got an early peek into the sport's future when Zheng made the semi-finals at Wimbledon two years ago when she was given a wildcard, but she has since failed to live up to the early hype.

Henin has shown glimpses of the form that won seven Grand Slam titles before she suddenly quit nearly two years ago.

She remains as motivated as ever but is worried about how her 27-year-old body will cope after the long break.

"The last few days have taken a lot of energy," she said.

"Even though I know I'm not playing my best tennis, in the tight moments I've been able to play good points, I think that's the key."

Williams has already won the Australian Open four times and is the No 1 player in the world, so a fifth title would not surprise but her form over the past week has been scratchy.

She almost came unstuck in her quarter-final against Victoria Azarenka but survived to give herself the chance to restore some lost family pride after her older sister Venus lost to Li.

"I'm not surprised. There's a lot of contenders that play for China," Serena said.

"They're all really good. Especially with Jie doing so well and Li Na doing so well, you gotta expect people in China to be excited and are going to want to put their daughter in tennis."

Li said she was adopting a philosophical approach to her match against Serena.

"In China we say, 'if you have a tough time and then you return back, maybe you have good luck for after'," she said.

"So I still believe that."

And, Zheng, who made a poor start to this year's Australian Open, losing the opening set of her first three matches, has been steadily growing in form and confidence.

"I feel a bit calmer than the last time I made a semi-final," Zheng said.

"Now, I feel like whoever makes the last four has a chance of winning it."