Li makes it look simple against Govortsova
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Chinese tennis star Li Na battled her way into the second round of the US Open, brushing aside Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-2 on Monday in New York.
Li needed just 64 minutes to win as the fifth seed didn’t face a break point and smashed 28 winners.
Li has historically struggled in this tournament, her least successful Grand Slam. She has advanced past the fourth round only once. The 2011 French Open champ came in just 4-3 in her first match at Flushing Meadows.
The 88th-ranked Govortsova, from Belarus, reached the third round at the US Open last year.
Meanwhile, Serena and Venus Williams were about as good as can be, dropping a combined four games in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Venus, now ranked 60th, beat 12th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-2, and then Serena reduced 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone to seeking comfort from a ball boy’s hug during a 6-0, 6-1 runaway under the lights at night.
Asked which meant more on this day, her own victory or her sister’s, Serena replied: “They’re equal. I definitely was happy to see Venus win. I really was happy for her. I know she’s been working hard. I know she had a tough opponent. For her to come through was just awesome. Obviously, I want to do well, too.”
Other seeds to advance included: Agnieszka Radwanska (3), Angelique Kerber (8), Jelena Jankovic (9), Sloane Stephens (15), Sabine Lisicki (16), Carla Suarez Navarro (18), and Sorana Cirstea (19).
The 29th-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia lost to Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Looking very much like the player she used to be, Venus smacked serves at up to 200 kph, returned superbly, and covered the court well enough to hit a handful of swinging volley winners.
“If Venus is there — if she’s fit, if she’s focused — she’s a top-10 player,” Flipkens said. “Everybody who knows a little bit of the game of tennis can see that. Today, she was like a top-10 player.”
Venus, 33, showed she’s still capable of big shots at big moments.
“I stay positive because I know I can play great tennis. Sometimes you just have to go through more than what you want to go through,” the American said. “Sometimes you have to have losses.”
Meanwhile, No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Serena stormed her way into the tournament, winning the first eight games, prompting Schiavone, in a brief moment of levity, to walk behind a baseline and envelope a ball boy in a full embrace.
“I don’t need a hug in that moment,” Schiavone joked afterward. “I need a game.”
It was that kind of evening for Schiavone, an often-demonstrative player who is certainly no pushover: In addition to her triumph at Roland Garros three years ago, she was the runner-up there a year later, and twice was a US Open quarterfinalist. Ranked as high as No. 4, she is 54th this week.
“I knew playing a former Grand Slam champion in the first round was a really, really tough draw,” Serena said, “so I tried to be super serious.”
All told, the match took merely an hour.
At Serena’s news conference, she was asked by an Italian reporter: “Did you really want to win 6-love, 6-love against the poor Schiavone?”
. I was just out there, trying to be focused.”
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