Li Na to Face Radwanska in Quarters, Nishikori Out
Point by Point: The top Asian singles players stays on track toward another Grand Slam Final.
China’s Li Na saved set point in a first-set tiebreaker before blasting past Germany’s Julia Goerges for a spot in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
The match began listlessly for both Li and 18th-seeded Goerges until the fourth game when Li broke the German’s serve and held her own service game to go up 4-1. Then her own serve got sloppy, giving Goerges a chance to break back.
The ensuing tiebreak was tense, with Li struggling to save a set point before dashing off three straight points to end the set in 54 minutes.
Losing the tiebreak seemed to sap Goerges of her resolve to make her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinals appearance. She was able to win only one game in a second set in which Li was effective in unleashing her stinging groundstrokes with precision. Li won the match 7-6(8-6), 6-1 in a total of 86 minutes.
“If I had lost the first set it could have been another story,” said Li. “I just kept going point by point, not thinking too much.”
What she has been focusing on is breaking into the top three in the WTA this year, after attaining a career high ranking of number 4 in June of 2011 after losing the Australian Open finals to Kim Klijsters, then winning the French Open. Li is currently ranked number 6 in the world.
Li will next face 4th-seed Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska who beat 13th-seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-4 Sunday.
Li is the last Asian remaining in the singles draw at Melbourne Park after 18th-ranked Kei Nishikori lost to David Ferrer of Spain 2-6, 1-6, 4-6 in their 4th-round match and Kimiko Date-Krumm lost to Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-7(3) in their 3rd-round match.
