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| Russia's US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova (R) laughs as she
walks past China's Li Na during the second round of
the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing September
23, 2004. (Reuters) |
Li Na came close to notching up
her best-ever
career win, but fell just short.
Holding a match point two times at 5-3 in the third set, China's former
best could not capitalize on her advantage and lost to newly-crowned US
Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-6, 6-7 at the China Open on
Thursday.
"I was thinking too much at my match
points. I wanted to win, which made me conservative. It
was a pity that I was not aggressive enough at that moment," said Li.
But the 22-year-old, who returned to action after three years of
retirement, was satisfied with her performance, saying if 100 is a perfect
assessment for the match, she scored 95, the five going the same way as
the match points.
She got the biggest cheers when she bowed to spectators on Beijing
Tennis Centre.
Kuznetsova started well and broke Li in the second game on her way to
taking out an easy first set. The second set looked set to follow the
first as Li was broken in the third game with her opponent up 5-4 with the
serve.
 Li replied strongly to the threat and broke the US Open winner
and then again in the 12th game to make it 6-6. The Russian trailed all
the way in the tiebreaker losing 6-8.
Kuznetsova continued to struggle in the third set, allowing Li to break
her in the seventh game and fell behind 4-5 with Li serving. But Li missed
two match points from unforced errors, handing her opponent an opportunity
to rally.
"I'm still thinking of the match right now. It is the toughest match I
have played this year," said 19-year-old Kuznetsova. "I did not play well.
She played unbelievably and it's like playing against a top five player,"
she said. "But I am so happy to win the match. I am winning and I did not
want to lose."
The second seed next plays sixth seed Gisela Dulko of Argentina.
Fourth seed Vera Zvonareva and fifth seed Nadia Petrova joined
Kuznetsova in the quarter-finals, meaning Russian women will take up half
of the eight spots.
Qualifier Vera Douchevina was the only Russian to crash out as she fell
6-1, 6-3 to seventh seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro, who
plays a quarter-final against Sharapova.
Their last match was in the US Open second round where Jankovic pushed
Sharapova to three sets before falling.
In the doubles, top seeds Nicole Pratt of Australia and Tamarina
Tanasugarn of Thailand advanced to the semi-final stage after seeing off
Garrigues and Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-2, 6-2.
Gagliardi and Dinara Safina of Russia later joined them, shocking
Shinobu Asagoe and Rika Fujiwara of Japan 6-3, 6-4.
The Japanese duo were the surprising first-round winners against third
seeds Sharapova and Zvonareva.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-09-24 10:11