China's top female tennis player Li Na made a strong comeback
from injury, winning her first match of the 2008 season by
upsetting seventh seed Sybille Bammer of Austria yesterday before
reaching the second round of the Australian Hardcourt
Championships.
Li has not played a singles match since last May due to a rib
injury. But the world No 29 showed no sign of fatigue yesterday,
coming back from 4-1 down in the deciding set to wrap up the game
6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Li now moves into the second round where she will play
Australia's Monique Adamczak, who defeated Russia's Elena Vesnina
7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5.
In other matches, top seed Nicole Vaidisova survived a scare
from home wild card Casey Dellacqua.
The 18-year-old Czech world No 12 dropped the first set to the
Australian left-hander, but came through to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-0.
Vaidisova, who has not won a title since May 2006, looked on her
way out when she faced three break points at 4-4 in the second
set.
However, she saved them and then ripped through the deciding set
to set up a clash with Tatjana Malek of Germany in the second
round.
"It's a relief to go through, plus she played some good tennis,"
Vaidisova told reporters. "It was tough."
(Agencies via China Daily January 2, 2008)