Avenging Li storms into last eight
Print Edition
Li Na notched another pay-back victory at the US Open, beating former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday.
The fifth-seeded Chinese, who overturned last year’s defeat by Laura Robson by beating the Briton in the third round, snapped a four-match losing streak to the Serbian dating back to Paris in 2009.
Former French Open champion Li cracked 20 winners and conceded only 12 unforced errors in a dazzling display, converting all her seven break points in a 57-minute masterclass.
“The last time in Rome I lost in two sets straight away. She plays pretty good defense, but who knows, maybe I played the best match of my whole life,” Li said with a chuckle on court.
“I still remember last time I played her in Rome. I was feeling I played pretty good, but still lost the match,” she told reporters later. “So I was so sad after the match.”
Li said her coach Carlos Rodriguez used that defeat to motivate her.
“Before this match, Carlos didn’t tell me anything. Just said, ‘remember how you felt after that match’.
The victory put 31-year-old Li, Asia’s first grand slam singles champion, into the US Open quarterfinals for the second time following her trip to the last eight in 2009.
A two-time Australian Open finalist, Li next faces Russian 24th seed Ekaterina Makarova, who upset third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-4.
“Tonight she played really well, at a very high level,” Jankovic said of Li. “I did not control the points. I let her do all the talk on the court. If she continues to play like this I think she can win the tournament.”
Elsewhere, taking eight of the last nine games, defending champion Serena Williams returned to the quarterfinals by beating Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-1 in a fourth-round match between the two top Americans.
The 20-year-old Stephens, one of only three players to beat Williams this season, matched the world No. 1 for 40 minutes. After that, it was one way.
“I definitely think it was a high-quality match,” said Williams, who has a 64-4 win-loss mark with eight titles this year. “We both came out today to play.”
Stephens’ highlight to date was a semifinal run at the Australian Open in January, when she stunned Williams in the quarterfinals. Only adding to Sunday’s story line, Stephens has said some unflattering things about Williams, who has won 16 majors.
Williams advanced to play No. 18 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain, who defeated No. 8 Angelique Kerber of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
