China's Li Na rallied to beat fourth seed Kim Clijsters of
Belgium to reach the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open WTA
tennis tournament in Miami on Monday.
Li, ranked 17th, rallied to oust the 2005 Miami champion and
will play her quarter match against Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, who
defeated Italy's Maria Santangelo 6-1, 7-5.
Clijsters said she was nagged by back discomfort and unable to
play her best.
"I just have to kind of focus, make sure that I have my practice
time at home and then try to peak at tournaments. It's not easy
because I'm physically just not capable of playing a lot of matches
anymore in a row," said Clijsters.
The Belgian said Li Na, the top tennis medal hope for China in
the 2008 Olympics, has the potential to crack the WTA's top 10.
"I do believe that she's definitely a top-10 player. I've always
had really tough matches against her," she said, "The last two or
three times I played her, she missed a couple of important
points."
"I think that's where maybe she still gets a little bit nervous.
But it's just a matter for her to get through one of those big
ones. Then I think the confidence will automatically rise and
she'll be up there."
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2007)