Listless Li Na flirts with disaster against Lucie Safarova before scrambling through at Australian Open

Never-say-die Li Na saved a match point before battling back and overcoming Czech Lucie Safarova in three gruelling sets as she scrapped her way into the Australian Open fourth round on Friday.
The Chinese fourth seed, a finalist last year, rallied from a set down and through a tiebreak to win 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in a two-and-a-half hour marathon on another hot Melbourne day.
In doing so she avoided matching her earliest exit at the tournament since 2008, and set up a clash with Russian 22nd seed Ekaterina Makarova for a place in the quarter-finals.
But it was a narrow escape for Li who self-destructed in the first set and had to draw on all her experience to find a way past the 26th-seeded Czech, who was playing with her right thigh heavily strapped and her left shoulder taped.
“In the beginning she played very nice, very good and it was tough to find any rhythm,” said the Li.
“I’m happy I was able to fight and win the match. I just tried to play at the baseline and move the ball around the court.”
