Li Na has been defeated by Serena Williams in the semi final round of the US Open 2013. Serena won the match in the straight sets by 6-0, 6-3.
With this win, Serena has set up another match with the Belarusian player Victoria Azarenka who made her way into the title round with a straight set victory over Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
This was Serena’s 10th match against Li and she defeated the Chinese player for the 9th time.
In the post match interview, Serena said, “It’s fantastic to be in the final round again. I got a fine start and managed to put Li under a bit of pressure. However, she came back well in the second set and made it tough for me to win points.”
When asked about facing Victoria Azarenka in the final match, Serena said, “We have played against each other quite a few times. So, we are well aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Whoever plays better on the day will win.”
On the other hand, Li admitted that she was feeling a bit of nervousness on the court. The Chinese player said, “This was not the first occasion that I was featuring in a final 4 match. I had played quite a few before this as well. So, I should have been relaxed, but, that wasn’t the case. I was actually nervous right from the start and was not able to concentrate at all.”
In the opening set, Li played some awful tennis. She was completely off-colour. She dropped her serve thrice consecutively and allowed Serena to secure a bagel.
Li had a better start in the second set as she broke Serena’s serve in the 3rd game to take a lead of 2-1. But, she was broken back immediately and the scores became 2-2.
Serena got one more breakthrough in the 6th game and after that, she just held her remaining serves to finish off the contest.