Li hits the ball in her 2-1 win over Spain's Lorenzo at US Open first round, August 30, 2006.

When the rain-interrupted match resumed, the 24 year-old Chinese had a 4-3 first set lead from the previous day but looked out of sorts as she lost three straight sets and surrendered the first set 4-6.

But it was back to business when Li Na started the second set, breaking Lorenzo's service twice and winning 6-3. She followed up with a perfect third set performance at Flushing Meadows, sealing her victory with a 6-0 set.

Li will face of Greece Eleni Daniilidou in the next round.

China's Peng Shuai lost to former US Open champion Martina Hingis 1-2 (6-4, 1-6, 3-6) in the first round of this year's tournament on the same day.

Peng hit the Swiss player with her usual power play style and won the first set.

But Hingis, the 1997 Flushing Meadows champion, took control of the match in the second set, moving more freely into the net to win points on the volley as the Chinese player tired.

Peng's trainer was called onto court in the third set but she was unable to recover and Hingis qualified for the second round, after losing only two more games.

The other two Chinese players, Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi, were ousted by Russia's 32nd seed Elena Likhovtseva and Poland's teenage Agnieszka Radwanska respectively.

The US Open Day 2 schedule was shifted to Day 3 in its entirety. The matches originally scheduled for Day 3 will be played a day later.