Stosur tips Li Na for top rank
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, January 29, 2014
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Li Na of China holds the trophy after winning her women's singles final match against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia at 2014 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 25, 2014. |
Former US open champion Sam Stosur yesterday backed Li Na to reach the top spot in world rankings, after the Chinese sensation's Australian Open victory.
Australian Stosur voiced her belief in 31-year-old Li ahead of an exhibition match between the two in China's Hong Kong. Li has already declared that she is determined to work hard to become No. 1 following her win in Melbourne.
"Think about her ability and what she has been able to do in the last year or so — for sure I think she has a chance to get even higher than No. 3," Stosur, 29, told reporters.
"I don't see any reason why you wouldn't think anything is possible... of course, it's very, very hard. The closer you get the harder it gets."
Li is third in the rankings, just 11 points behind second-placed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, after downing Slovak Dominika Cibulkova last Saturday to take her second grand slam title after winning in France in 2011. American Serena Williams, 32, remains world No. 1
Stosur said she did not believe Li's age would hold her back.
"Lots of players now are playing their best tennis at a little bit older age... being healthy is the important thing," she said in a phone conference.
Describing Li as "down to earth" Stosur said she loved the post-match one-liners that had the Melbourne audience in stitches.
Li thanked her agent for making her rich and jokingly blamed her husband Jiang Shan's snoring for keeping her awake.
The two will meet at the BNP Paribas Showdown exhibition in Hong Kong in March, to mark World Tennis Day.
Stosur was a top-10 player almost continuously for three years until her run ended when she finished last year ranked 18, after a season blighted by injury. She has, however, won all six of her WTA tour matches against Li. "For whatever reasons I have always had success against Li Na when we played. But they've been very, very tough matches," she said.
Meanwhile, top seed Sabine Lisicki has withdrawn from the Pattaya Open in Thailand due to a right shoulder injury.
The 2013 runner-up struggled in her first-round match on Monday, taking two hours to overcome Croatia's Donna Vekic in three sets, and admitted after the match that it had been almost impossible for her to serve effectively.
"It was pretty obvious I wasn't able to serve in the second and third sets," she said yesterday.
"I love the tournament so much, especially after last year playing in the finals. I wanted to do better this year. I tried everything and won the match yesterday and was hoping it could get better overnight, but unfortunately it didn't.
"Now the first plan is for me to get healthy again. I will see my doctors at home and make plans from there."
Her second-round opponent, Czech Andrea Hlavackova, now advances to the quarterfinals.
Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia also withdrew, citing a left hip injury and allowing Julia Goerges a walkover into the quarterfinals.
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