Li Na was the only one left among the three Chinese players
playing on Tuesday to progress into the next round at the
Australian Open.
Li pushed aside French rival Severine Bremond 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to
book a second round clash with Italian Maria Elena Camerin who
eased past host player Christina Wheeler 6-1, 6-2.
For Li's compatriots Peng Shuai and Yan Zi, the second day of
the tennis Grand Slam event was not their day.
Peng lost a three-hours-and-a-half thriller to Russian teenager
Alisa Kleybanova 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 while Yan fell to six Grand Slam
winner Venus Williams 6-2, 7-5.
Li, coming to the Grand Slam fresh from her Gold Coast victory,
hit 31 winners as compared with 12 by her opponent.
"I really don't think the match was that easy for me," said Li,
with ice bag around her right knee.
"I took the first set with ease which made me over relaxed and
led to losing the second one," she said.
Peng was bewildered by her own play.
"I don't know. I don't understand. I don't know why I lost,"
said the 22-year-old Peng.
"Actually I had a good winter training camp at the end of last
year. I just can't bring out my best today. I can't feel my game.
When I hit the ball, it responded in a weird way," she said.
Yan said she tried to cause some trouble to the American eighth
seed on Rod Laver Arena but could not make a difference to the
result.
"I did think about the way to restrict her forehand which is
William's weak point," she said. "But beating her will be extremely
difficult. She is a very strong rival."
Both Peng and Yan will also play in the doubles.
Peng will be paired up with Sun Tiantian, winner of the Athens
Olympics doubles title, to face the team consisting of Li and
Russian singles sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the doubles opening
round.
Yan and Zheng Jie, newly crowned Sydney doubles champions, are
going to play on Thursday.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2008)