Li Na blasts her way past Stephanie Foretz Gacon in the second round battle – French Open 2012
Defending champion at the French Open, Li Na, continued her thumping voyage at Roland Garros on Thursday. She outmuscled the 86th ranked local unseeded opponent, Stephanie Foretz Gacon, in the second round of the Grand
Slam event, finishing off the contest in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.
Currently holding the seventh spot in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) World Rankings, Li showed her top notch performance in Thursday’s contest to drive the French opponent out of the tournament. The Chinese veteran took hold
of the momentum right from the beginning and then carried on with her winning impetus throughout the encounter to come out as the dominating winner.
Gacon registered a straight sets victory, 6-3, 7-5, against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the opening round of the tournament but couldn’t do much against the defending champion in the next round. The Frenchwomen proved to be a
total mismatch for the belligerent Chinese number one and could barely secure two games in the entire matchup before succumbing in the second set of the match. She coughed 22 unforced errors to assist Li in her victory and suffered six out of seven serve breaks
in the battle to finish on the losing side in the end.
"The start of the match was tighter, but then she became sort of mechanical, like a windshield wiper," Foretz Gacon said off Li. "She started hitting hard and deep and got better and better. It wasn't easy because the games started
piling on and I wanted to stay on the court longer. But I'm still happy about my week."
When asked about her Grand Slam title defence, Li replied, "I mean, why not? I did well here last year and am happy to be here again this year. I don't really think too much about being the defending champion or how far I can go
- I'm just enjoying playing every day, every round."
The 30-year-old Chinese will next face the unseeded American youngster, Christina McHale, in the third round draw of the French Open this weekend. McHale was successful against Lauren Davis, 6-1, 6-3, in the second round clash.
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