Li reaches final, may rise to No. 3
Print Edition
Li Na continued her remarkable late-career surge by reaching the final of the WTA Championships in Istanbul, the tour’s flagship season-ending tournament, for the first time yesterday.
The 31-year-old did so with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over Petra Kvitova, the former Wimbledon champion from the Czech republic who won the title two years ago.
Already the first Chinese singles player to win a grand slam and now assured of a highest ever season-end world ranking of at least No. 3, Li’s latest victory suggested she is improving at an age when many players are deemed to be in decline.
It was very much a reward for positive early groundstroke attacking from both wings and a ratio of unforced errors significantly lower than Kvitova’s.
The former titleholder projected more than 20 of these, several at important moments, although Kvitova also produced spells of sustained brilliance, particularly with her hard-to-read forehand, indicating that she was always dangerous.
Li had already commented on her age, with a mixture of irony and self-evident comment. Asked about the possibility of a final with Serena Williams, who is 32, Li said: “The oldest players have more experience on court.”
She added: “This year I was feeling more, how you say, confident. I more understand what I should do on the court and off the court.”
Li also seems to have managed her schedule better and certainly reserved some of her best tennis for the season’s climax.
She thwarted a Kvitova comeback from 0-3 down to 4-4 in the first set by winning a long ninth game, returning serve well and always seeking to get the first good strike into the rally.
In the process she saved two game points which might otherwise have created momentum for Kvitova to push on to win the first set, and Li also gained reward for pressurizing the second serve when Kvitova delivered a crucial double fault.
Li converted that break point chance with a fine counter-hitting winner, and advanced to break serve again immediately at the start of the second set.
Although she lost that advantage, two more breaks at 3-2 and 5-2 put Li in a dominant position, and increased the uncertain mixture of winners and errors which Kvitova purveyed.
Later, Williams, the titleholder, was taking on Jelena Jankovic, the former world No. 1 from Serbia, for the right to meet Li in the final.
This is only the second time in the history of the championships that two players over the age of 30 — Williams and Li — have made it to the last four.
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