Li Na breezes into third round of the Mutua Madrid Open
Sixth seeded Chinese Li Na eased past Czech Iveta Benesova in straight sets on Wednesday. She registered a 6-1, 6-4 win over the 28-year-old Czech to advance into the third round of the 2011 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.
World number six, Li triumphed over the Czech for the fourth straight time and extended her lead in the head-to-head series by 4-0 against Benesova. The Chinese took fifty-nine minutes to down the world number sixty-five Benesova
at Park Manzanares.
The Chinese seed had an awesome start of the season as she won the title at Sydney. She then had an eleven match winning streak which ended with her victory against Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-final of the Melbourne Grand Slam.
After that, she lost in the final and then had a five match losing streak. However, coming into this event, she got back on track as she dumped Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Benesova in straight sets.
29-year-old stormed into the opening set and held her serve in the first game spectacularly. She then unleashed flurry of ground strokes to seal the set by winning six games to Benesova’s one. Li had an acceptable first serve share
of 70 percent as compared to slightly higher of Czech’s 75 percent and registered an impressive 79 percent win on it. She faced zero breakpoints and converted both breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to help win easily.
The Chinese kept momentum rolling into the final set and held her opening serve plausibly. She then kept remaining serves with massive forehands from her arsenal of skills. In addition to this, Li broke the Czech’s serve in the
fifth game which eventually led her clinch the set with a 6-4 win. She earned an amazing 81 percent win on her slightly lower first serve share and saved both breakpoints conceded.
"I'm glad I'm getting back on track," Li said. "I didn't do well since Australia but getting these matches under my belt is good."
She recently started working with Coach Michael Mortensen. "I'm glad to have something new in my tennis… We just started and the excitement is back in my game. I'm playing well and I look forward to my next match."
Up next for the Chinese is Italian Roberta Vinci who trashed Russian Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets.
Two seeds were ousted later that day from the third round matches. Second seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva displayed dismal performance against sixteenth seed Petra Kvitova to eventually exit from the tournament. Eighth seeded Russian
Maria Sharapova lost to Slovak Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets as well.
Tags: