Li advances to French Open second round
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China's top tennis player Li Na met strong challenge from local teenager Kristina Mladenovic but managed to win the women's first round match at French Open in straight sets on Monday.
Li, came to Roland Garros as the 11th seed. Although her first rival Mladenovic ranked outside the top 200, Li had to deal with the 17-year-old girl for nearly one and a half hour before wining in 7-5, 6-3.
In the opening set, the 28-year-old Li was broken by Mldenovic in the seventh game but took revenge quickly in the following game.
After leading in 6-5, Li took advantage of Mldenovic's poor serve to take the victory of the first set.
Mldenovic broke again in the third game of the second set but seemed injuring her back before losing the fourth game without earning any point.
However, the unyielding French girl continued to push the Australian Open semifinalist Li hard with amazing saves along the baseline.
Mldenovic even grabbed two breaking points in the ninth game but couldn't stop her experienced opponent to wrap up by winning five points in a row.
