LI NA, the first Chinese singles
player to win a Grand Slam title,
added another significant first to
her collection by reaching the
WTA Championships semi-finals.
Li's trampling 6-2 6-1 win over an
ailing Victoria Azarenka carried her
to the last four of the tour's
flagship tournament for the first
time.
Another victory tomorrow, when
she will face Petra Kvitova, will
make her the first Chinese player
to ever climb as high as No.3 in the
world.
From early on there was little
doubt that the uncompromising flat
hitting of the 31-year-old from
Wuhan would earn her revenge for
her narrow loss to Azarenka at the
Australian Open final in January.
By the sixth game the world No.2
from Belarus was suffering from a
lower back injury, which required
three lots of treatment and
significantly impaired her
movement although Li had already
been looking the sharper and more
potent attacker.
Azarenka decided against retiring,
even though she was often yelling
in pain and sometimes close to
tears.
"I thought after the first set she
would retire," Li said.
"If I was feeling very bad I would
have retired. If you keep playing
you can make an injury worse."
Azarenka explained: "It was a bad
movement and, after I served, my
back just locked. The physio told
me that there was no structural
damage but that it would take time
to fix it.
"I was a big mess of emotions, but
I wanted to do my best for the fans
and show respect for my
opponent."
These words suggested that
Azarenka's worrying decision to
carry on, whatever the discomfort,
may have been influenced by a
large number of previous
retirements, and perhaps by the
unpopularity she endured with
some of the Melbourne crowd at
the Australian Open.
There she took a medical time out
immediately after missing five
match points in her semi-final
against Sloane Stephens, and the
resulting hostile mood of some of
the spectators affected the
ambience of Azarenka's final
against Li.
The setback ensured that Azarenka,
who also lost to Jelena Jankovic,
would be eliminated from the
White group, while the former
world No.1 from Serbia qualified
instead.
She has a semi-final against world
number one Serena Williams, who
had already completed three wins
on Thursday to top Red Group.
The disappointment almost seemed
like a relief to Williams' closest
rival.
"I need to look at what's happened
and learn more about how to
prevent some of these injuries --
then I will be ready (for next year)
for sure," added Azarenka.
Kvitova, the winner of the 2011
WTA Championships, kept alive her
chances of reclaiming the title with
a 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-3 win over
Angelique Kerber.
The Czech's success against the
German was due to phases of
exceptional brilliance off the
ground though it was mixed with
occasional lapses of concentration
which cost her the first set after
establishing a lead of 4-1.