Li and Peng will battle in all-Chinese final
Print Edition
Defending champion Li Na and Peng Shuai advanced yesterday to set up an intriguing final at the Shenzhen Open in Guangdong Province.
Top-seed and world No. 3 Li made light work of Germany’s Annika Beck, winning 6-1, 6-3. Fifth-seeded Peng advanced in a walkover when American Vania King withdrew with a right thigh injury.
“It’ll be a tough match tomorrow,” Li, 31, said. “We’re quite familiar with each other and have improved a lot over the last year. But no matter what, I’m quite looking forward to the final.”
Li was leading 6-1, 5-0 yesterday when Beck came back to reel off three straight games, but the former French Open champion regrouped to close out the match.
King said she began feeling pain in her leg during her win over second-seeded Sara Errani in the second round and pulled out to rest before the Australian Open, which begins on January 13.
“It was a really difficult decision for me to pull out because I hate losing and not competing,” King said. “But I just have to look out for my health.”
Today’s final will be just the second in WTA history featuring two Chinese players. Li lost the first when she retired against Zheng Jie at Oeiras in 2006.
Li has a 5-1 record against Peng, including a 4-0 mark at tournaments in China.
In New Zealand, Ana Ivanovic maintained her sizzling form yesterday to storm into the final of the Auckland Classic, setting up a meeting with seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.
Second-seeded Ivanovic dominated her doubles partner Kirsten Flipkens 6-0, 7-6 (3) in their semifinal, while Williams benefited from a walkover after fifth-seeded Jamie Hampton pulled out with an injury.
Ivanovic made the perfect start, breaking Flipkens three times to take the first set from the Belgian 6-0 in just 22 minutes.
Flipkens, who committed 13 unforced errors and three double faults in the first set, recovered to force a tie-break in the second.
But Ivanovic, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, never looked really troubled and comfortably wrapped up the match.
The win gives the Serb, who has failed to capitalize on her sole Grand Slam success at the 2008 French Open, the chance to win her first WTA Tour title since November 2011.
It will be a confidence booster for the world No. 16 ahead of today’s showdown with Williams, who has won eight of their nine previous meetings.
Ivanovic said she did not know if Williams, 33, would benefit from a day’s rest.
“It’s not really a disadvantage or an advantage — it’s really in your game and your match,” she said. “It’s going to be a tough one and I look forward to the challenge.”
Williams advanced when Hampton withdrew after injuring her right hip during a morning warm-up.
It will be her first appearance in a WTA final since she won a tournament in Luxembourg in October 2012. She claimed her last Grand Slam in 2008.
Now ranked 47 and unseeded in Auckland, Williams is seeking to rejoin the game’s elite after struggling with auto-immune disease and injury.
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