Li Na dumps Victoria Azarenka to move into second straight Grand Slam semi-final – French Open 2011
Chinese ace Na Li battled past Belarusian Victoria Azarenka to make her way into the semi-final at the 2011 Roland Garros in Paris, France on Wednesday, 1st June.
In a seeded battle between the two in-form pros, Li took almost ninety minutes to do away with the fourth seeded Belarusian in straight sets, recording a 7-5, 6-2 victory.
Playing in their fifth match today, Li extends her lead in the head-to-head score against the German to 4-1.
Opening serve, Li held her serve plausibly to put herself on the scoreboard with Azarenka following shortly in the next game. An exchange of break later the score was tied at 2-2 between the two pros. Both players continued to
hold their serves, despite several deuces and long rallies. Serving at 5-6, Azarenka failed to win a single point as Li hit back-to-back winners down the line. The Chinese was able to clinch a hard fought 7-5 victory, going one up in the set score.
In the set that lasted almost an hour, with both pros sharing similar first serve wins, the only edge the Chinese enjoyed were the thirteen winners to Belarusian’s four.
The second followed somewhat the same suit in the beginning. An exchange of break early on in the set tied the score at 2-2. However, the fierce Chinese came out firing in the sixth game to break Azarenka’s serve and lead the score
5-2. What followed was another arduous game as the two players forced one deuce after the other.
Although Azarenka managed to save two match points, an error from her combined with a winner from Li allowed the Chinese to clinch the third match point and go 2-0 in the set score.
A 2011 Australian Open finalist, Li is yet to win a Grand Slam title. However, hoping for a similar run here, the Chinese is just two matches away from achieving her dream. She next plays Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals on Friday,
3rd June.
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