Li Na reaches semi-finals of Sydney tournament
Li Na of China took two hours and 19 minutes to down teenage American qualifier Madison Keys, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 in a night match on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the Sydney International tennis tournament.
“I was happy I could stay at the same level from the beginning of the match to the end. It was a pretty good challenge,” Li said.
Li said she was surprised by the power and big serve displayed by Keys, who Li predicted would rapidly improve on her ranking of 135.
“She [Keys] has a big serve. It’s very good that I could have the match before the Australian Open to see how strong I am on the court.”
Li now meets world No 4 and tournament top seed Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.
Radwanska clinched a seventh straight victory to beat Italian world No 16 Roberta Vinci 6-4, 7-5 in just over an hour and a half.
In the bottom half of the women’s draw, Slovakian world No 15 Dominika Cibulkova upset French Open finalist and tournament third seed Sara Errani of Italy, 6-2, 6-1.
Cibulkova, who eliminated 2011 Wimbledon champion Czech Petra Kvitova in the opening round, will face German second seed Angelique Kerber who beat former US and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-3, 7-5.
Radwanska said she was relishing her run of matches leading into the Australian Open.
“So far I feel good, and I’m very happy that I can play good matches, already seven in a row,” she said.
“I think this year it’s the first time I’ve played two tournaments before a grand slam. I never did that before.
“So far it’s good, so I’m happy with my performance. I’m going to keep going.”
In the men’s section, American qualifier Ryan Harrison upstaged his top-seeded countryman John Isner 6-4, 6-4 in a second-round match.
The exit of Isner, who was promoted to the No 1 seeding after Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet withdrew, followed two more injury withdrawals: No 2 and 2011 Sydney champion Giles Simon (neck) of France and No 6 Radek Stepanek (back) of the Czech Republic.
Isner, who withdrew from the Hopman Cup in Perth last week with a right knee injury, lasted 71 minutes against No 64-ranked Harrison.
In other matches, third-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy beat John Millman of Australia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, Australian Bernard Tomic, who beat No 1-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia last week at the Hopman Cup, advanced with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over fifth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany, and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-3.
At the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, former world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt of Australia beat big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4) to advance to a semi-final against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
The 31-year-old Hewitt is preparing for his 17th Australian Open.
Berdych had a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig. Also, 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to set up a semi-final against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who was leading Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 1-0 when the Serbian retired with a wrist injury.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press
