Li races through as top seeds fall
Print Edition
China’s Li Na beat Nadiya Kichenok of Ukraine in straight sets yesterday on a day of upsets at the Shenzhen Open.
The 31-year-old Li, the tournament’s top seed, downed Kichenok 6-1, 6-4 in second-round action at the Longgang Tennis Centre in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Li, Asia’s highest-ranked player in tennis history, was coming off a victory on Tuesday over Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, once ranked No. 2 in the world.
In the day’s biggest upset, Vania King of the United States beat No. 2 seed Sara Errani of Italy 2-6, 7-6, 6-3. Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria, meanwhile, upset third-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic in straight sets 7-6, 6-4.
Romania’s Monica Niculescu came from behind to beat Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yung-jan after dropping the first set 2-6. Niculescu took the last two 6-3, 6-0.
In quarterfinal doubles action, Niculescu and Zakopalova beat top seeds Zhang Shuai and Zheng Saisai of China 6-3, 6-4.
In Australia, Victoria Azarenka sent a warning to her opponents after demolishing Australia’s Casey Dellacqua in the second round of the Brisbane International.
Second-seeded Azarenka had far too much firepower for Dellacqua, winning 6-3, 6-1 to book a quarterfinal berth against unseeded Swiss Stefanie Voegele. The Belarusian smashed 18 winners and made only 11 unforced errors.
In men’s matches, Marin Cilic continued his comeback from a doping ban with a 7-5, 7-5 win over fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
Cilic is playing in his second tournament following a four-month ban for testing positive for a banned stimulant in May. He’ll next play second-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, who eased to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Australia’s Matthew Ebden.
Top seed Roger Federer cruised into the quarterfinals with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.
The former world No. 1 dominated the Finn with his penetrating groundstrokes, but also tried to come to the net many times throughout the match — a favorite tactic of new coaching adviser Stefan Edberg.
Federer warned his opponents that he would only get better. “I expect myself to play a bit better in the next match, even though today was already very good for a first match in so many weeks, to be honest, and against Nieminen who can play very good tennis,” the Swiss said.
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal got a measure of revenge in Doha on Tuesday. The top-seeded Spaniard’s 6-2, 7-6 (9/7) win against Lukas Rosol, a Czech who upset him sensationally in the second round of Wimbledon 2012, carried him into the second round of the Qatar Open.
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