Li Na defeated Romanian Monica Niculescu in a tough three set struggle to secure her place in the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open.
Being her first tournament of the year, Li Na’s play was a little out of form. She started out strong but struggled at times during the match especially in the second set. Despite her rust, the tournament defending champ and top seed was able to get the win 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Li Na will next face eighth-seeded German teenager Annika Beck who earlier defeated Austrian Patricia Mayr-Achleitner. Fifth-seeded Peng Shuai also won and will next play American Vana King. A win by Li and Peng in their semifinal matches will set up the first Chinese final for the Shenzhen Open pitting China’s top two players against each other. It will also be only the second time in WTA history that two Chinese players will fight one another for a championship.
Interestingly, it was Li and Peng who battled each other the first time two Chinese players met in a championship. The tournament should be a good tune-up for Li Na as she prepares for the Australian Open coming up in a few weeks. Ranked third in the world at the beginning of play, Li later learned that Maria Sharapova’s quarterfinal win at the Brisbane Open was worth enough WTA ranking points to move above Li Na on the world women's tennis leaderboard. By nightfall Li dropped to fourth in the world rankings behind Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams.
UPDATE: Both Li Na and Peng Shuai won their semifinal matches and will play each other on Sunday for the championship.