Fourth-seeded Mirza repeatedly left Li stranded on the baseline with her forehand crosscourt shots and avenged a loss to the higher-ranked Chinese player 2-1/2 years ago in their only previous encounter.

Mirza's title contest Wednesday will be against second-seeded Zheng Jie, who defeated third-seeded Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-3, 6-2.

Lee Hyung-taik, the top-seeded player in men's singles, advanced 7-5, 6-0 over sixth-seeded Filipino Cecil Mamit.

In Thursday's title encounter, Lee will take on third-seeded Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, who clinched a 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 victory in the semifinal against fifth-seeded Go Soeda of Japan.

Mirza, 67th in the world rankings, turned the form book upside down by knocking out Li, Asia's highest-ranked player.

"It's one of my most memorable matches because it's paved the way for me to play for a singles gold medal," said Mirza as thousands of Indian expatriates celebrated her victory in the stands, dancing to the sound of drum beats.

"The crowd can be distraction some time, but I'm thankful to the spectators as they came out in large numbers to support me," Mirza said.

Mirza won a bronze medal in mixed doubles in the last Asian Games. In Doha, she has already won a silver in the women's team event.

Li said Mirza outplayed her in this encounter as "my game was erratic and I couldn't bring into play tactics to negotiate Mirza's aggressive play.

Aggression was the feature of Zheng's game against Nakamura.

"I was more aggressive today and tried to make Aiko move as she's not so quick," Zheng said. "China's loss in the team event has been really upsetting for us, but I wasn't thinking about that when I got on the court."

U.S.-based Mamit said his game fell apart in the second set against Lee, the top-ranked men's player in the event after injuries forced 2002 Asian Games champion Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand to withdraw.

"I couldn't move well in the first set, but I gained in confidence as the match progressed," said Lee.

Mamit also finished on the losing side in the men's doubles semifinal. The Filipino pair of Mamit and Fredrick Taino was swept aside 6-2, 6-4 by defending champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi - the Indian pair moving within one match of clinching the gold medal again.

Thailand's Ratiwatana brothers - Sanchai and Sonchat - beat South Korea's Jun Woong-sun and Kim Sun-young 6-1, 6-3 to move into a final against Paes and Bhupathi.

The women's doubles final will be between top-seeded Zheng and Yan Zi of China and fourth-ranked Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan.

Yan and Zheng beat Japanese duo Ryoko Fuda and Tomoko Yonemura 6-2, 6-2, while Chan and Chaung upset China's Athens Olympics doubles champions Li Ting and Sun Tiantian 6-3, 6-2.

Mirza and Paes rallied to beat China's Yu Xinyuan and Sun 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 to advance to the mixed doubles final Wednesday. They'll face the Japanese pair of Satoshi Wabuchi and Akiko Morigami for the gold medal.