Li Na slays Klara Zakopalova in the fourth round – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Chinese tennis ace, Li Na, crushed the Czech competitor, Klara Zakopalova, in the fourth round clash of the BNP Paribas Open. Li took the match in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, ending the resistance of the Czech within an hour.
The display of sheer class and power play was witnessed at the hard courts of California on Tuesday. It was a world class show from the eighth ranked Chinese who has been out of form in the recent past. This performance reminded
everyone of the sublime run she had in the French Open last year.
Zakopalova had won two previous head-to-head encounters before this and it was the first triumph for the Chinese starlet. More importantly, she marches into the quarter-finals of the tournament in Indian Wells that is itself a
major achievement, considering that she was failing to create an impact at the courts in the past few tournaments.
The Czech player started off the match with a double-fault that showed her lack of confidence. She was hammered all across the court. Li was also poor on her serves donating two opportunities to her opponent to break serve but
managed to save all of them in the first half of the match.
She created three opportunities for herself and converted two in her favour that were good enough to give her a cracking first set triumph. It was something that was missing from her games but she shut all her critics with this
performance especially those that were complaining of her lack of form due to the aging factor.
Li smacked an ace to kick-off the second set and continued to power down the Czech. A bagel was registered that clearly suggests the level of domination from the Chinese at the courts. She allotted four opportunities to her opponent
for a breakthrough but saved all of them. The Czech couldn’t handle the onslaught from the Chinese, lost three out of five breakpoints and could only grasp 18 points in the second set.
Li Na takes on the German tennis ace, Angelique Kerber, in the quarter-final battle of the tournament.
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