Na Li

• Date of birth: February 26, 1982
• Birthplace: Wuhan, Hubei, China
• Residence:  Wuhan, Hubei, China
• Height:  1.72 m (5 ft 71⁄2 in)
• Weight:  62 kg (136 lb)
• Plays:  Right (two-handed backhand)
• Turned Pro: 1999

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Li Na (born February 26, 1982), is a professional women's tennis player from the People's Republic of China. She was born in Wuhan, Hubei.

Career summary

Between 1999 and 2004, Li won 20 women's singles titles: 19 ITF events and one—the first ever won by a Chinese woman—on the WTA Tour.

Li also frequently enters doubles tournaments at events alongside singles, and has won two WTA doubles titles and 16 further ITF doubles events. Her early success in doubles came mostly with Ting Li; since, her partners have varied, most notably with Peng Shuai and Jelena Jankovi?.

On June 19, 2006, Li became the first Chinese woman to be ranked within the WTA top 30 at No. 30. Two months later, on August 14, 2006, Li entered the top 20 for the first time at No. 20.

2000-2003

Li turned professional in 1999, and won three of her first four singles tournaments she entered on the ITF Circuit. She also won all seven of the first seven ITF doubles tournaments she entered.

In 2000, she won a total of 52 singles matches on the ITF circuit, more than any other player, notching another eight tournament titles and an unbroken run of four successive $10,000 tournament wins in March and April.

In June, after Li's world ranking had risen to No. 136 on the strength of her ITF performances alone, she gained direct entry into her first WTA Tour event at Tashkent. Li lost her first WTA singles match to Anna Zaporozhanova 0-6 6-4 6-1, but she captured the women's doubles title at Tashkent with Li Ting against Zaporozhanova and Iroda Tulyaganova.

By the end of 2000, Li had won four WTA singles matches, in addition to gaining her 11th ITF title. She also won seven more ITF doubles events, six of them with Li Ting.

Li was mostly absent from the tour in 2001. She won two ITF singles tournaments, but played only one further match for the rest of the season. Her ranking fell to No. 303 by year's end.

In 2002, she came through qualifying to win her first $75,000 singles tournament at Midland, USA in February, defeating Laura Granville, Tatiana Perebiynis and Mashona Washington en route to the title, the 14th of her career. But she then played just one further match before a 25 month absence from the circuit. Sources vary what the causes of this absence were, with some citing "health reasons," but others asserted that she decided to take a break from professional tennis to study at university.

2004

In May 2004 she returned to the circuit unranked, and won 26 successive matches to notch three further ITF tournament victories and another $50,000 title. Li's winning streak was snapped by Evgenia Linetskaya in the semifinal of the Bronx tournament in August.

That September, she lost in the final of a $25,000 tournament to compatriot Zheng Jie. Li received a wildcard for the WTA-level Beijing tournament, where she defeated Antonella Serra Zanetti, Marta Domachowska and Nicole Pratt—losing 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-7 (3) to Svetlana Kuznetsova, who afterwards praised Li, stating that she had felt as though she was up against a top-five player.

Following her Beijing performance, Li qualified for another WTA tournament, Guangzhou, defeating Vera Dushevina, Jelena Jankovi?, Kristina Brandi and Ting Li to reach the final, where she overcame Martina Sucha 6-3 6-4 to claim her first WTA title; in so doing, she became the first Chinese woman to win a WTA event. On October 4, 2004, she broke into the WTA Top 100 for the first time.

Li reached No. 80 in the world by the season's end, a year in which she won 51 singles matches and lost just four.

2005

In 2005, Li dropped the ITF circuit and focused solely on the WTA. At her Grand Slam debut with the Australian Open, she reached the third round, losing to Maria Sharapova 0-6 2-6.

In early February, she reached the quarterfinal at Hyderabad, losing to Maria Kirilenko.

Li reached the final at Estoril in late April, defeating Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, Nicole Pratt, Dally Randriantefy and Dinara Safina to reach her second WTA Tour final, losing to Lucie Safarova 7-6(4) 4-6 3-6.

Li retired at Rabat in May with a right ankle sprain from her semifinal match against Zheng Jie with the score at 3-3. Reaching the semis propelled her to a career high ranking of No. 33, but the injury kept her out of action for the following three months, after which she had mixed results, and didn't defend her title at Guangzhou, losing in the quarters to Yan Zi. Li ended 2005 ranked #56.

2006

In January, she entered the Australian Open and faced Serena Williams in the first round, losing 3-6 7-6 2-6.

By the end of February, her ranking had dropped to #71.

At the Qatar Total Open Li faced Daniela Hantuchová in the second round, who was up 6-4, 5-1; but Li saved match points and broke back twice for a second set tiebreak, which she won, defeating Hantuchová 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-1. Li then faced Nadia Petrova in the third round and lost 4-6 4-6.

At Indian Wells, Li reached the fourth round, losing to world #8 Elena Dementieva 3-6 2-6. She rose back to #60 in the world afterwards.

At Estoril in May, Li Na defended her previous year's finals performance, losing for the fourth time to Jie Zheng, retiring at 7-6 (5) 5-7.

Following Estoril, Li defeated Patty Schnyder for the first time in the quarterfinals at the Qatar Total German Open with a muscle sprain after the match, losing to Nadia Petrova in the semis 1-6 0-6. Li's ranking following the success at that Tier I event rose to #39.

At her first appearance at Roland Garros, Li reached the third round, losing to finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova. Her ranking increased to #32. Following the clay season, she reached the third round at the DFS Classic tournament on grass; her ranking increased to #30, the highest a Chinese woman had ever been prior.

At Wimbledon, ranked 30th, she was seeded 27th after a few withdrawals, and became the first Chinese woman to be seeded for entry into a Grand Slam tournament. Li defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round and Nicole Vaidišová in the fourth, being the first Chinese woman to reach a quarterfinal at a Grand Slam. Li lost in the quarters against Kim Clijsters 4-6 5-7, despite serving for the second set at 5-2.

At the US Open she reached the fourth round, beating Mary Pierce 4-6 6-0 6-0, before losing to the eventual champion Maria Sharapova, 4-6 2-6.

2007

Li Na started the year by participating a Tier III event in Gold Coast, Australia where she reached the second round. The week after, she competed in Sydney (Medibank International). She defeated Francesca Schiavone in the first round, Elena Dementieva in the second saving five match points, and Katarina Srebotnik in the quarterfinal. Then, she made it to the semifinals, losing a tough match to Kim Clijsters 1-6, 6-1, 7-5, however, she rose to a career high of No.16 afterwards.

Li Na followed her strong showing at the Medibank tournament with an equally strong showing at the 2007 Australian Open, where she advanced to the fourth round. Seeded 19th, Li dispatched Elena Bovina and Lourdes Dominguez Lino in straight sets through the first two rounds leading to a matchup with number 9 Dinara Safina. The match was postponed due to rain, but Li handedly beat Safina 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round to play Swiss star, number 6 Martina Hingis. Due to the rain delay and the fact that Hingis played on Rod Laver Arena, a roofed court, on the originally scheduled day, Hingis had an extra day of rest. The match the previous day seemed to have no effect as Li took the first set from Hingis; however, Na faded as the match went on and lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, committing 69 unforced errors. Despite the loss, the tournament was a success for Na, as it marked the third straight time in a slam that she advanced to the fourth round or later.

At the Tier I Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan, Li advanced to the second round, defeating Lilia Osterloh 6-3, 6-2, before losing to Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-4, converting zero of 11 break points.

At the important Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Li made a strong showing, advancing to the semifinals. She lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the semifinal 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. She continued her good form at the Miami Masters, losing just three games in her first two matches against Tamira Paszek and Katarina Srebotnik, before stunning fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. She then lost in the quarter-finals to Anna Chakvetadze 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

She then moved onto the green clay of Amelia Island, where she suffered a shock second round exit after receiving a first round bye to former top twenty player Karolina Sprem in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. At the Family Circle Cup held in Charleston, South Carolina, she fell in the third round to Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4, 7-5.

After losing in a grass tune-up event in Birmingham Li has pulled out of every tournament she was to play in the summer including Wimbledon and the US Open citing a rib injury.

2008

Li Na had not played a professional match in half a year and had resultantly slipped to 29th in the WTA rankings when she returned from her rib injury in January 2008 to compete at the 2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts in Gold Coast, Australia. In the first round, she narrowly defeated seventh seed Sybille Bammer 6–4, 4–6, 6–4. After a comfortable second round victory over wildcard Monique Adamczak, she was drawn to meet the top seed Nicole Vaidišová in the quarterfinals. Li won their encounter in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3, advancing to the semifinals where she edged past Patty Schnyder 3–6 6–3 7–5.[2] In the final, she narrowly prevailed against Victoria Azarenka 4–6 6–3 6–4 to score her first singles title since Ghangzhou in 2004 and the second WTA singles title in her overall career.

Despite rising back up to World No. 24 following this victory, she then withdrew from the 2008 Medibank International in Syndey after suffering a right knee injury. Her failure to defend her previous year's semi-final performance at this event cost her 125 ranking points, which dipped her ranking back down to No. 30 in the rankings list for the week beginning 14th January.

Going in to the 2008 Australian Open, she had a further 140 ranking points to defend from her fourth round performance in 2007. Faced with a relatively lenient draw in the early rounds, she survived a close three-set tussle with Séverine Brémond in the first round before surpassing Maria Elena Camerin in straight sets in round two. A revitalised Marta Domachowska (who last year slipped down from the Top 100 to the bottom of the Top 200 before a late-season winning streak propelled her suddenly back up to within the Top 150) remained between her and the defence of her ranking points, and although Li Na won the first set convincingly 6–2, she faltered thereafter and finally ceded the match to her Polish opponent by a single break of serve in the closely fought deciding set.

Having slipped three places to World No. 33 by the time she entered the Tier II tournament at Antwerp in early February, she nonetheless progressed to the semi-finals with back-to-back straight-sets wins over Russian veteran Elena Likhovtseva (6–1 6–1), Slovak World No. 45 Dominika Cibulkova (6–4, 6–4) and on-form Swedish World No. 66 Sofia Arvidsson (7–5 6–4). However, she came unstuck in the semi-finals against World No. 47 Karin Knapp despite having taken an early lead with a break of service in the first set, ultimately ceding the match to her Italian opponent 4–6, 6–7(5). This tournament brought her back up within the Top 30 at World No. 29.

The very next week in the Tier I 2008 Qatar Total Open, Li met Likhovtseva again in the first round, and this time, after taking the first set comfortably, was challenged to a much tougher battle, but eventually won, 6–1, 0–6, 6–4. In Round Two, she scored her second straight-sets victory in four career head-to-heads against Russian World No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze (whom she had last beaten at the French Open in 2005), saving a set point in the first set tie-break before recovering to win 7–6(7), 6–4. In the third round, she enjoyed a more comfortable victory over Israeli World No. 17 Shahar Pe'er, recovering from a 1–3 deficit in the second set to win 6–1, 6–3. In the quarter-finals, she met her old rival and friend World No. 4 Jelena Jankovi?, coming into the match with a winning 3:1 head-to-head record to her credit against the Serbian player. By defeating Jankovi? 6–3, 6–4, she extended this record to 4:1 and moved into the semi-finals, where she played Vera Zvonareva of Russia, against whom she had won both of her previous encounters. Despite taking the first set 6–3, Li lost the second by the same scoreline; and although she was 3–2 up in the final set, she then ceded four successive games to her opponent to lose the match.

Her ranking having risen back to No. 23 on the strength of this performance, she was prevented from consolidating on this recovery by suffering a right knee injury which forced her to pull out of her scheduled entries into both the Tier II event at Bangalore in early March and the Tier I tournament at Indian Wells in the middle of the month. With 210 ranking points undefended from her semi-final performance at Indian Wells in 2007, her ranking is calculated to slip back down to the bottom end of the top 30 in the week beginning March 24th 2008.

source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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