Li Na gets good draw at Australian Open
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E-mail Xinhua, January 10, 2014
China's Li Na has a good draw at the 2014 Australian Open made on Friday, except for her potential semifinal clash with world No.1 Serena Williams.
Williams and Li are in top half of the women's singles draw while No.3 Maria Sharapova and defending champion Victoria Azarenka stay in the other half.
A twice-runner-up Li will meet a qualifier in the first round and then Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in the second round. Her possible opponent for a place in top 16 will be 26th-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, against whom Li kept a 6-1 record.
Li is drawn to face Petra Kvitova in the last eight and then the potential semifinal against Williams.
Williams, who could equal Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert's total of 18 Grand Slam singles titles with this year's victory, will play Australian Ashleigh Barty to open.
The five-time Australian Open champion is seeded to face Italian Sara Errani in the quarterfinals.
Two-time defending champion and world No. 2 Azarenka will play against Johanna Larsson of Sweden in the opening round and has potential quarterfinal with fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, while Sharapova, winner of 2008, faces a tough opening round against Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States.
Zheng Jie, who reached semifinals in 2010, will meet 12-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy in the opening round, who Zheng had beaten in 2012. Zhang Shuai's first round opponent will be German Mona Barthel and Peng Shuai faces Kurumi Nara of Japan.
Wild-card entry Tang Haochen's first round opponent is Canadian rising star Eugenie Bouchard, who is also 19 years old and already played in seven Grand Slam events.
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