LI NA has been at the forefront of the emergence of women's tennis in China and the Wuhan-born player became the first Chinese winner of a Grand Slam singles title at the age of 29. A finalist at the Australian Open in January, Li Na defeated defending champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6(0) and in doing so, the right-hander will reach a career-high ranking of No.4 on Monday.
With straight-set victories over pre-tournament favourites Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova en route to the final, Li was clearly the in-form player and this showed as she opened her account with a 6-4 set. Even though Li took the first set from Kim Clijsters in the final at Melbourne Park in January, she looked distinctly nervous but having gained in experience, Li played in a much more relaxed and assured manner.
She played the Italian veteran just right in the first set. She mopped up anything which landed short and Li kept tight on the baseline, thus robbing the reigning champion of the time she enjoys on the ball. While her return game wasn't as good as it can be, Li was rock solid on serve and she barely dropped a point behind her first service – with the flat serve down the tee proving most fruitful.
Taking the ball early and playing with controlled power, Li broke Schiavone at the start of the second set and even though the Italian broke back at 4-4, the No.6 seed withstood the onslaught from the reigning champion, who was two points away from winning the second set on at least three occasions.
It looked as though a third set would be played for the first time since 2001 because not only was Schiavone playing with much more authority and using her forehand much more offensively, Li appeared to be feeling the pressure as she gestured impatiently to her support camp but while Li managed to arrest her emotions, Schiavone lost the plot, and the match, after Louise Engzell over-ruled a pivotal point which would have given her a set-point at 6-5.
Instead, this brought up game point for the Chinese and after that incident, Schiavone didn't win another point in the rest of the match. Li coasted through the second set tiebreak to win her first Grand Slam singles title.
Li Na's chances for Wimbledon
UNTIL this year's French Open, clay was very much considered to be Li's least favourite surface and a patchy Roland Garros record certainly illustrated the Chinese was least comfortable on the red-clay and while Li's recent form shows the vast improvements she's made on clay, surely Li can improve her career-best showings at Wimbledon and the US Open too?
It will be interesting to see how Li does on the grass-courts at Wimbledon next month, especially as the cast should be of a stronger calibre with the Williams sisters expected to return to action, while Kim Clijsters should be much more match sharp after an inauspicious return to competition at Roland Garros.
A title in Birmingham and a pair of quarter-final appearances at Wimbledon pay testament to Li's calibre on grass but traditionally, Roland Garros winners don't perform well at SW19. Schiavone suffered first round losses in Eastbourne and Wimbledon last year while Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic also suffered first week losses in 2009 and 2008 respectively.
Li struggled to find any semblance of form after reaching the final at the Australian Open but she's aware she can't afford to rest on her laurels. She commented: “If I didn’t do well in Wimbledon, maybe people forget me already.”
While Li returned to her homeland just after reaching the final in Melbourne, she said she won't be returning to China until after Wimbledon which means she will be able to avoid the brunt of the media attention and focus on her grass-court season which will begin for Li in Eastbourne.
What does it say about women's tennis?
LONG gone are the days of teenage supernovas and the final between two of the tour's veterans confirms how women's tennis is following the trend of men's tennis, with the tour being dominated by older players. Recent finals contested by the likes of Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters certainly proves this.
Likewise, it also shows the new generation just aren't cutting it at the moment. Once 11-20-ranked players in the mid-2000s, Schiavone and Li have taken their chances due to a plethora of retirements and injuries to the old guard while the up-and-comers have yet to prove themselves as Grand Slam material.
Despite being world No.1, Caroline Wozniacki still has a lot of work to do if she wants to be a Grand Slam while Victoria Azarenka can't seem to break past the quarter-final stage at this level. Agnieszka Radwanska seems to have plateaued too.
