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GOLD COAST, Australia: China’s Li Na completed a successful come
back from injury Saturday, beating Victoria Azarenka here in the
final of the Australian Women’s Hardcourt tennis championships.
Li, China’s highest ranked player, lost the
first set to the 18-year-old Belarusian before gradually asserting
control and running out eventual winner 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It was Li’s second WTA title since she joined
the main tour in 2000, adding to the tournament she won in Guangzhou
in southern China in 2004.
Li had a good start to 2007, making the
quarterfinals or better five times in 13 events in the first half of
the year. But a stress fracture of her right rib forced her off the
tour for the rest of 2007.
She said she never doubted she would return to
the court despite the lengthy layoff, saying she knew she would
recover because she was a “strong woman.”
And the 25-year-old joked that she was destined
to win the first tournament of her comeback.
“Maybe the Gods said ‘right this girl has
rested for four months, maybe she didn’t get any prize money’,
so this tournament has given me that prize money.”
Li beat three seeded players on her way to the
final, including world No.12 Nicole Vaidisova and two-time champion
Patty Schnyder as she makes a timely return to form ahead of the
Beijing Olympics.
Azarenka and Li are one place apart on the world
rankings, at 30 and 29 respectively, a closeness that was reflected
on the scoreboard as both players strived to gain any advantage.
The Belarusian stormed through the first set,
breaking Li in the opening game and pinning her back with an array
of powerful groundstrokes.
Li broke back in the sixth to get the set back
on serve, but surrendered it immediately to give the initiative back
to Azarenka.
Azarenka, who left the court at 4-3 to have her
right thigh strapped, showed no signs of wavering as she held her
next two service games to take the opening set. The Belarusian
refused to blame the leg injury for her loss.
“It started hurting me in the first set and
the trainer taped me—it got better but I still had a few problems
moving to the forehand,” she said.
“I was still able to play—so it’s not an
excuse as to why I lost.”
Li stormed back in the second set as her deft
placement began to take its toll on Azarenka. And although Li was
broken twice, she broke Azarenka three times to send the match into
a decider.
When Li broke Azarenka in the third game of the
third set it appeared the match was heading for a quick finish, but
the Belarusian refused to give in and broke back three games later
to get back on serve.
However Li steadied and took advantage of a
loose service game from Azarenka at 4-4 to break again and serve for
the match at 5-4. She raced to 40-15 and clinched the title when
Azarenka hit a forehand over the baseline.
Li however was puzzled by the crowd’s
applause, after failing to hear the umpire overrule an earlier point
in her favor.
“I thought it was 40-30 to me so I told myself
‘okay come on, match point’ and I wanted the ball from the ball
boy, but he didn’t give me the ball.”
“I was like ‘what happened?’ And then I
heard ‘Game Set and Match’ and I was like, ‘Did I win?’”
-- AFP
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