Li feels heat but through to last 16
INDIAN WELLS: Chinese firebrand Li Na battled back under the sweltering California sun to defeat Alona Bondarenko 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in a third round match at the Pacific Life Open on Sunday.
The 25-year-old from Hubei province advanced to the round of 16 where she will face the winner of a match between Martina Muller and seventh seeded Jelena Jankovic.
"I had a good start in the second set and then she came back," Li said. "I told myself to just play my game which is to use my backhand and keep wearing her down from the baseline."
With temperatures slated to peak at 37 C on Sunday, 22-year-old Bondarenko eventually succumbed to the heat and Li's backhand.
"It was a tough match," Li said. "Today was so hard because of the heat. I woke up this morning and I wanted to sleep the whole day but I told myself I better get up because I have a match to play."
She said the turning point in the match was winning the second set.
"After the second set I got more confidence. She had a lot of misses early in the third and then I just held on," said Li, who is travelling with husband and recently-appointed coach Jiang Shan.
Li enjoyed a breakthrough season last year, becoming the first Chinese woman to be ranked in the top 20.
She is the 12th seed at Indian Wells, and if she wins her next match this would be her best finish ever at the $5.3 million hardcourt tournament.
Li, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year, is now 10-5 in 2007.
She is China's best hope for a medal in women's singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but says she is not thinking about the Summer Games just yet.
"Right now I want to improve my ranking," Li said. "Maybe next year I will get ready and start thinking about Beijing."
AFP
(China Daily 03/13/2007 page24)
