OLYMPICS /
Team China
Chinese Li carries host's hope into last eight
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-13 21:12
Beijing - Chinese Li Na was the only player to carry home interest in the last eight of the women's singles in Olympic tennis event, coming back from one set down to beat Kaia Kanepi from Estonia 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the third round on Wednesday.
Li Na of China returns the ball to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during their women's singles third round tennis match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 13, 2008. [Agencies] |
In the opening set, Li fired eight winners to just one of the Estonian, but was troubled by her uncharacteristic 31 unforced errors to 17 of Kanepi, losing at 6-4.
Coming into the second set, Li played a consistent game and did not give her opponent any break point, while converting on five of all her 10 chances of breaking in the remaining time.
"First, I did not know much about my opponent, and second, I wanted to win so much. That led to my loss in the first set. In the second set, I tried to reduce the faults and tried to find the opportunities to attack."
Having made her Olympic debut, Li came into play as an unseeded player due to long-time injury, but she produced the biggest upset in the first round by beating Russian world number three Svetlana Kuznetsova.
She will play world number eight Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.
"I hope I can hold on to the last round and try to win the game step by step. We all know that Venus is a very good player. It is really hard to predict what will happen next. But I will try my best tomorrow."
Elsewhere, China's Zheng Jie lost to Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3.
