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)