Tennis

Gutsy Chinese Li battles back to stay alive

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-22 10:56

MELBOURNE: A gutsy Li Na saved a match point as she battled back from a set down to beat Hungary's Agnes Szavay and book a place in the Australian Open third round yesterday.

The Chinese 16th seed is looking for a decent run in Melbourne to get her season off to a flying start and she dug deep to get back into the contest before moving up a gear to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

She said she had no focus in the first set but recovered her concentration to stay alive in the tournament.

"She was playing good in the first set and I was missing a lot of balls. She didn't do anything special, she was just putting the ball back on my court and then I just missed every single ball," she said.

"After that, I was also 3-1 down in the second set and I knew I had to do something or I'd have to book a flight out for tomorrow.

"So I tried to calm down and just get back as many balls as I could."

Li, who has long been Asia's highest-profile player and continued her steady rise through the rankings last year, will next play Slovak 22nd seed Daniela Hantuchova, a friend off court.

The 27-year-old from Wuhan said it would be hard and she would put their friendship aside for the match.

"It will be tough to play her because we are good friends," she said.

"Of course, we have to fight on the court. We can say hello after or before but I don't think she wants to say hello on the court.

"I will be fighting for every point."

AFP