Li Na eyeing a good run at Istanbul – Tennis News
World number eight, Li Na, was absolutely manhandled by the second seed Russian superstar, Maria Sharapova, in the semi-final of the China Open on Saturday. She managed to win just four games throughout the encounter; falling in
an hour and 41 minutes to a dismal score line of 4-6, 0-6. However, it was not her fault at all. The Russian woman is in absolutely emphatic run of form and hasn’t allowed anyone to seek near to a ‘set’ lead either; forget about winning the match.
After being thrashed by the number one Russian woman, Li stated, "Now I'm looking forward to the WTA Championships and also to next year." World number three, Agnieszka Radwanska, fall victim to the mind-startling play from the
Chinese number one who confirmed her place in the Top-8 players list with this triumph. Li will travel to Istanbul later this month to contest for the season-end finale. It will be interesting to see how far the 30-year-old Chinese can go through before falling
out to the superior ranked players in Turkey.
Talking about the plans for the new season, Li commented, “I'm excited for next season. Since I started working with Carlos the whole team is working very well together. Our goal was for me to participate in the WTA Championships,
and at the last minute we made our wish possible. At the end of the season we'll make a plan for next season and find out what our objectives will be moving forward.”
It has been a sub-standard season for Li so far. However, the fight back at the end has helped her to retain the eighth spot that has ensured her participation in the Top-8 elite woman travelling to Istanbul. Last year, she won
the French Open Championship being an underdog and broke into the Top-10 players of the world. However, she couldn’t repeat a similar heroic performance in 2012 but has been consistent in reaching the advanced stages of most of the elite tournaments.
The highlights of her tournaments include a final appearance in Apia Sydney International, Italian Open, Rogers Cup and a title at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Maybe, Istanbul will be kind enough to offer her the
best ever season closure with another title.
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