Li Na Captures First WTA Tour Title
GUANGZHOU, China - Li Na became the first Chinese woman to ever win a WTA Tour
singles title on Sunday at the Guangzhou International Women's Open.
In only her second WTA Tour event of the year, Li needed just 1 hour, 17
minutes to claim her first singles title, defeating Martina Sucha of the
Slovak Republic.
"I'm trying to keep a balance and not to get too excited about winning today,"
Li said. "I was nervous out there at the beginning and eager to win for the
crowd. I didn't start too well because of this, but when I settled down, I felt
much better. Beating a good player like Jankovic earlier this week gave me a
lot of confidence for today."
Li was able to accomplish something not one of her countrywomen have done in
the past. Between 1995 and 1998, six Chinese players reached the final of a WTA
Tour singles event, but none were able to claim the title. Before Sunday, the
last Chinese player to reach a singles finale was Li Fang, who finished as
runner-up at Pattaya City in 1998.
"I'm not concentrating too much on being the first Chinese WTA Tour (singles)
champion," Li said. "My goal is to break into the Top 100 and once I've
achieved that, to break into the Top 50."
Li also becomes the third qualifier to win a WTA Tour singles title in 2004
after Iveta Benesova (Acapulco) and Nicole Vaidisova (Vancouver). She is also
the eighth first-time WTA Tour singles champion this season.
The 22-year-old who resides in Wuhan, Hubei, China improved to 44-3 for the
season, having won her first 28 matches of 2004 on the ITF Women's Circuit.
Last week in Beijing, as a wildcard into qualifying, she reached the main draw
and held two match points on new US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the
second round before falling 63 67(6) 76(3).
The match was only the second WTA Tour singles final of 2004 not to feature
at least one seed, the other being Acapulco (Benesova d. Pennetta).
Sucha was appearing in her third career WTA Tour singles final, having won
2002 Hobart and finishing runner-up at 2004 Budapest.
"She was playing well and she was difficult to play against," Sucha said. "I
was feeling a little tired and was slow; slower than I should have been. She
was moving faster and deserved to win. I knew she was playing well; she has
beaten a lot of good players this week. I didn't play as well as I expected and
today was not good enough."
In doubles, Olympic champions Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian won their fifth
career doubles title and second of 2004 with a 64 61 victory against
countrywomen Yang Shu-Jing and Yu Ying.
Yang/Yu led 4-0 in the first set before Li/Sun won 12 of the next 13 games to
take the match in 1 hour, 13 minutes. It was also the first WTA Tour doubles
final for Yang and Yu.
"This is a very exciting event for us to win," Li Ting said. "It's the first
WTA tournament in Guangzhou and it's great for Chinese tennis. In many
tournaments around the world we feel the support of the local Chinese when we
play, but this is very special, to have the crowd very much on your side."
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