Li Na enters the quarter-final draw of the Mutua Madrid Open – Tennis Special
Chinese number one tennis star and eighth seed here, Li Na sailed into the quarter-final round of the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, 9th May 2012, after doing away with twelfth seeded German, Angelique
Kerber. In an easy breezy hour and twenty five minutes, Li secured a straight-sets win, 7-5, 6-4, over the German to clear the third round’s play.
Meeting each other for the fifth time in their careers, this was Li’s fourth win over the German. Her only loss against Kerber had come earlier in the year when the two had met for the quarter-final round at the BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells in March.
Leveling the head-to-head score for the year, Li started off the third round match with the utmost ease. A toe-to-toe run between the pair kept the score tied for the first ten games. Standing at 6-5, Li capitalized off Kerber’s
errant strokes to convert a breakpoint to her advantage, clinching the first set with a 7-5 win.
Down but not out, Kerber strived to hold her own in the second set. Opening on a high note, the German, returned the favour as she broke the Chinese to lead the second set 2-0. Although Kerber extended her lead to 3-1, Li was able
to bounce back in the sixth game. Breaking back the German, Li was able to level the scores at three games each. Once more following the first set, Li stood at 5-4 in the set before breaking her opponent in the tenth game to clinch a 6-4 win sealing her straight
sets victory.
In a match that lasted eighty five minutes, Li struck two aces despite two double faults to Kerber’s zero. Hitting a resounding 77 percent on her first serve, Li scored an impressive 76 percent win on it with a meager 47 percent
on her second serve. However, the Chinese star struggled throughout the match. With twelve breakpoint opportunities presented to her, Li only managed to capitalize on three of them.
Moving into the quarter-final round of the event, Li now looks to play the top ranked Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka. The top seeded Azarenka did away with thirteenth seeded Serb, Ana Ivanovic in twin set 6-4, 6-4 win. The former
world number one Serb collapsed against the onslaught of the Belarusian. Despite seven double faults, Azarenka was able to score an easy win with four aces and 70 percent win on her first serve.
The Chinese number one has not been in her top notch form this season and is straining extremely hard to get into the winners’ circle. Last year’s Roland Garros champion, Li hasn’t got her hands on any title this year and is having
a 18-6 winning record after her win over Kerber. The 30-year-old is focused for defending her French Open title this summer and a couple of clay-court titles prior to her Grand Slam campaign will certainly boost up her confidence to a whole new level. Although
Azarenka is the hot favourite for winning the quarter-final, Li will be eyeing to register one of the biggest surprise of the tournament by taking her down.
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