Self-destructed Li crashes out of French Open
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 28, 2014
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Li Na followed her male counterpart Stanislas Wawrinka out of the French Open in the first round when she lost 7-5 3-6 6-1 to local favourite Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday. |
World No.103 Kristina Mladenovic sent shockwaves around Roland Garros on Tuesday when she knocked out former champion Li Na 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.
The loss came a day after men's Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka was eliminated in the first round, which made it the first time that both Australian Open champions have lost in the first round at Roland Garros.
French hope Mladenovic, who was ranked No 1 in the world as a junior, delighted her home crowd with a breakthrough display on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
After edging the first set it looked like she had missed her chance when Li fought back in the second, but the 21-year-old found a brilliant response and dominated the second seed in the decider.
Mladenovic saved two set points in the opener, lost focus in the second but stepped up a gear again in the decider to triumph on her second match point.
Li, who won the French Open in 2011 and was seeded second this year, ended up with 37 unforced errors on a cool and overcast day at Roland Garros. Mladenovic had only 25 errors.
Li admitted that her mind was not fully focused on the match and felt the loss was down to her poor performance rather than her opponent excelling.
Li said: "I think it doesn't matter who plays today against me, I would always lose the match today, because I don't think she was putting a lot of pressure on me.
"The problem is myself. I didn't follow the game plan and, even when I was standing up in the court, in my mind I didn't have any idea how to play the match."
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