Asian Games tennis latest; Li Na beats Chan Yung Jan; earns first team event gold for China
China’s Li Na led her country to its first-ever women’s tennis team gold at the Asian Games on Tuesday with a crushing win over defending champion Chan Yung Jan of Taiwan.
Peng Shuai of China also cruised past Taiwan’s Chang Kai Chen in two sets before Li, who is only competing in the team event, swept aside Chan in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1 to clinch the title.
Peng, who is currently ranked number 76 in the South African WTA list, carved out a break during the sixth game of the opening set and nipped ahead again in the first game of the following set to seal the win. Despite needing treatment on an injured left
knee, Kai battled on before her resistance wilted with a lazy, long forehand in the second set.
Li, who is almost a hundred places ahead of Chan in the WTA rankings, eased past her opponent from Taiwan in the opening set with breaks during the first and the fifth games.
The professional tennis ace from China, blasted a total of thirty seven winners in the match compared to Chan’s seventeen. She broke her opponent during the second and sixth games of the decisive set to secure her country’s first Asian Games tennis team
gold.
World number eleven Li, made her debut on the WTA tour in 1999, and became the first Chinese player to reach the top thirty four years ago. The 28-year-old is also the first Chinese player to make her way into the quarter-final round of a Grand Slam tournament
after she reached the last eight at Wimbledon in 2006.
The Wuhan resident has been one of the most successful tennis players in China’s history, and achieved her highest ranking of Asia’s and China’s number one female tennis player back in 2009. By marching into the semi-final round at the Australian Open in
Melbourne, Li became the first Chinese player to break into the top ten on the WTA tour.
Tags: