I was emailed this today - no idea where it came from or who to credit.
Li Na looks wonderfully playful in this shot, totally adorbs.
She will play Iveta Benesova tomorrow in Madrid.
UPDATE:
Li Na overwhelmed Benesova 61 64 in today's 2nd round match.
This is only her 3rd match win since losing the Aussie Open final in Jan.
Interesting: Andy Murray (the Aussie men's finalist) has slumped since too.
Moral of that story is: don't lose the final in Australia!
Australian Open - Women's Final
3 Kim Clijsters d 9 Li Na - 36 63 63
Kim was down a set & a break (36 2-3), then she changed her racket...
Kim's finally gets a 'different' Slam to go with her 3 US Open titles.
Kim: I finally feel like you guys can call me Aussie Kim cuz I won the title.
Since her return to the game she has played 5 Slams & has won 3 of them.
Kim has now won 41 career titles - 31 of them have come on hard courts.
The win will bump her up to #2 in the rankings. Only 140 points behind #1.
She has entered the event in Paris - a Sf run there will move her to the top.
Kim last enjoyed a top 2 ranking way back in 2006.
Enjoy Kim while you can:
I do think this is probably my last full season that I'll be playing.
I also would like to try and keep going until the Olympics.
I've never played the Olympics, which is in a year and a half time...
Yeah, so and then we'll see after that. But, uhm, when I started again,
I had the Olympics in my mind. I wanted to try to keep going till then.
Australian Open - Final Preview
3 Kim Clijsters vs 9 Li Na - H2H: 4-2
Something tells me either winner would make for a very popular champion.
Kim is looking to add a 'different' Slam to her 3 US Open titles.
While Li is looking to become the 1st Asian winner in tennis' long history.
She has already entered the history books by being the 1st Asian finalist.
This is their 3rd meeting at a Slam - Kim won the other two.
Kim came into this tournament the favorite to lift the trophy but...
Remember, Li beat Kim 2 weeks ago in the Sydney final in straight sets.
This would mark Kim's 41st title as opposed to only the 5th for Li.
This is Kim's 8th Slam final: 3-4. And 2nd at the AO: in '04 she lost to Henin.
Let's hope Li's husband & Kim's daughter let them both sleep well last night.
Talk to you on the other side of the match folks.
Photos: Reuters
Australian Open - Women's Semifinal Preview
1 Caroline Wozniacki vs 9 Li Na - 1-2
R'uh r'oh: The 2 played twice last year and Li won them both.
And both of them were in Australia - including at the AO in the 4th round.
Li is also the only undefeated player of 2010.
Caro: By making the Sf's she is assured the #1 ranking on Monday.
***
2 Vera Zvonareva vs 3 Kim Clijsters - 3-6
They played 4 times last year: 3-1/VZ. But Kim won the big one at the USO.
This is the 5th time they've played at a Slam: 3-1/KC.
Their 1st match was a 3-setter way back at USO '02 which went Kim's way.
5 of their 9 matches have gone the distance. I'm thinking tonight too.
Photo: AP/Reuters/Getty Images
9 Li Na d 30 Andrea Petkovic - 62 64
Li Na duplicates her result from a year ago. Can she go a step further?
She has stormed thru this tournament like a woman on a serious mission.
In 5 matches she has lost a total of 26 games.
That averages out to a little over 3.5 games per set.
She will play the winner of Wozniacki/Schiavone.
You have to luck this gals attitude, honesty and spunk.
Li: Because I'm better, so I won the match.
Photo: Reuters - In Melbourne's Chinatown
Australian Open - Women's Fourth Round
9 Li Na d 8 Victoria Azarenka - 63 63
Li moves into her 5th Slam Qf: 1-3. And 2nd straight at the AO: 1-0.
Li finished '10 as the #11 ranked player after a career high of #9 in Aug '10.
Rolling: With her win last week in Syndey, Li has yet to lose a match in '11.
In fact, in 4 matches here she has yet to drop a set - or many games: 20.
She will play the winner of Sharapova/Petkovic - gotta like her changes.
Photo: Getty Images
WTA Sydney - Women's Final
8 Li Na d 3 Kim Clijsters - 76(3) 63
Incredible - Li was down 5-0 in the 1st in about 15 minutes before, well...
The Kim-plosion. (I stole that from someone on Twitter.)
The 2nd time serving for the set saw Kim double-fault THREE times.
Turn-around queen: Li was also down 36 35 to Sveta in the Qf's.
She also becomes the 1st Chinese player to win at the WTA Premier level.
Li: I was 5-0 down and saw the time, it was only 15 minutes. I thought,
Yeah, the fans pay a lot of money & the match will be over in half an hour.
Kim: I think I just softened the quality of my strokes.
I wasn't hitting as deep or aggressively as before & she took over very quickly.
Ok ladies, off to Melbourne.
Photo: Getty Images
Women's Semifinal's Set at WTA Madrid
Madrid WTA Semifinal Preview
16 Petra Kvitova vs 6 Li Na - H2H: 0-0
Petra's win today moves her into the top 10 - 6th Czech woman to do so.
Awe, that make me think of Hana Mandlikova. I loved her.
***
4 Victoria Azarenka vs Julia Goerges - H2H: 1-0/JG
Their previous match was played 2 weeks ago in the R16 at Stuttgart.
A win tomorrow for Vika would make her the highest ranked Belarusian ever.
Photos: Reuters/Getty Images
Posted at 03:57 PM in Commentary, Julia Goerges, Li Na, Madrid, Petra Kvitova, Preview, Victoria Azarenka, Womens Tennis | Permalink | Comments (0)
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