Li Na living up to the expectations of the home crowd; reaches third round – China Open 2012
Chinese number one, Li Na, kept her winning roll at her home soil in Beijing and eased through to the third round of the China Open on Tuesday. The world number eight broke the winning run of the Russian veteran, Nadia Petrova, in the second round clash, marking an assertive score line of 6-1, 6-2, to move a step closer to the quarter-finals of the WTA Premier Series event.
Despite of all her reservations prior to the commencing of China Open, Li has been absolutely belligerent in her initial encounters. She outclassed the former French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone, to initiate her campaign in Beijing and carried on the similar sort of impetus to drive away Petrova in the Tuesday’s encounter. The seventh seeded Li dropped barely three games in the entire matchup and raced away to victory in a dominating fashion.
Petrova came to Beijing right after winning the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, after defeating the world number three and the defending champion, Agnieszka Radwanska, in the final showdown. The 30-year-old Russian was expected to give a real tough time to the seventh seeded Chinese but she was never seen in her true form throughout the second round match. Petrova had a 6-0 lead in the head-to-head series but it was the payback time for Li, who finally registered her first victory against the Russian veteran to improve 1-6 all-time.
"It was a tough draw to play Li Na at home," Petrova said. "I also played so many matches and spent so many hours on the court in Tokyo, so not only was I a bit fatigued, I had a slight injury in my leg. So today was pretty difficult. She played very fast and moved me around, and after a couple of games I started feeling my leg worse and worse, and I couldn't really move to the sides or corners well. I couldn't adjust well and just felt a little bit slow today."
The home favourite Chinese, Li, is expected to bag the China Open title this season and her current form clearly hints that it will be extremely tough to beat her at her home.
Tags: