Li in shock first round exit
Print Edition
CHINESE second seed Li Na admitted she wasn’t ready mentally after crashing out in the French Open first round at the hands of world No. 103 Kristina Mladenovic of France.
Following men’s third seed Stan Wawrinka’s exit on Monday, fellow Australian Open champion Li became the biggest early victim in the women’s draw as 21-year-old Mladenovic stormed through 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 on a windswept Suzanne Lenglen court.
“Nobody says if you’re No. 2 in the world you have to win all the matches. I mean, this is tennis,” said Li, the 2011 Roland Garros champion. “I think it doesn’t matter who plays today against me, I always lose because I don’t think I put pressure on her,” she said about Mladenovic, who reaches the last 64 for just the second time in six appearances in Paris.
Li came into the tournament in good form having reached the quarterfinals at Rome and Madrid as well as the Miami Masters final where she lost to Serena Williams. However, her results in Paris since becoming the first Asian player to win a grand slam three years ago have been disappointing.
She was knocked out in the second round last year and hasn’t been past the fourth round in any of her seven other appearances in the French capital.
“I think today I gave away the match,” said the dejected 32-year-old double grand slam winner.
“I think today is not about tennis, so many things are wrong.”
She committed 37 unforced errors yesterday.
“I don’t think I’m doing well. If I’m doing well, I believe I still can win the match if it’s not my best day. But I don’t think today I tried a lot. Like I said before, doesn’t matter who plays today against me. I already lose the match already.”
Mladenovic next meets Alison Riske of the United States.
“It’s just incredible, I don’t have the words to describe what happened,” a tearful Mladenovic said. “To beat the world No. 2 in the first round at Roland Garros is incredible.
“Without you, I couldn’t have done it,” the 2009 French Open junior champion told the crowd.
Heartbroken Caroline Wozniacki suffered a morale-sapping defeat yesterday in her first appearance since the break-up of her romance with star golfer Rory McIlroy.
The 23-year-old Dane’s three-year relationship with the Northern Irishman ended last week after McIlroy got cold feet over their future while sending out wedding invitations.
Wozniacki slipped to a 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2 defeat to Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer. It was 13th-seeded Wozniacki’s earliest defeat in Paris since her debut in 2007.
McIlroy and Wozniacki met nearly three years ago in Munich.
(AFP)
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