Li Na comes into next week's Australian Open with the hopes of China on her shoulders and has been given a ringing endorsement by her Sydney conqueror Kim Clijsters.

The Belgian world No 5 was taken to three sets in their semifinal before ousting the 21-ranked Li, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 in 95 minutes in sweltering on-court temperatures yesterday.

Clijsters said 24-year-old Li had been her toughest opponent of the tournament so far and praised her development as a player.

"She's definitely become a lot more consistent," Clijsters said. "The last few times I played her I felt like she was a good player and she could really show some really good things, but she was never quite consistent enough to make it hard for the top players.

"Something I think she has changed a lot is that she does good things when she has to do it, whereas in the past when it was getting close she would make a few easier mistakes than what she did now. I think you get that by experience, by playing bigger matches, and it's great to see. To me she's the best Chinese girl out there. She's a very powerful girl and moves well, has a good serve, and she's a good player. She's really improved a lot."

Li became the first Chinese player to reach a grand slam's quarter-finals when she was beaten by Clijsters at Wimbledon last year after upsetting seeded Russian players Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nicole Vaidisova on the way.

Li led Clijsters 5-2 and held a set point before the Belgian romped home to victory 6-4, 7-5.

She is at the vanguard of a four-prong Chinese women's challenge in Melbourne next week and is keen to make up for her first-round loss to seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams at last year's Australian Open.

"I lost in the first round last year to Serena Williams. This year I want to try my best because this year I am a seed, so maybe first round, second round is a little bit easier, but I'm not sure," Li said. "Everyone is tough, so I'll just try my best."

Li has been improving her ground-strokes ahead of the new season and troubled Clijsters by controlling the points for large parts of the final set.

"I will try to come to the net. I'll try this year, but it feels OK because I tried the first match, and second match, third match, for me feels okay. I need work on that," she said.

Li said Chinese women's tennis will break free ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"I mean, now is much better than a long time ago because now in China they have a lot of good players, more young players coming," she said. "This year four young girls are coming to the Australian Open. I'm leaving tomorrow for Melbourne, so maybe I'll have tomorrow off and after then I try a little bit because maybe I'll play Monday in Melbourne, so only one day off."

(China Daily via AFP January 12, 2007)