Li Na of China was at her element on Sunday night at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as she overpowered former top-ranked Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the US Open 2013 quarterfinals.
Li Na had another objective in mind, she lost their past three meetings and she simply blazed her way through the match to close it out with 20 winners to only 12 unforced errors.
“It’s very tough to play against Jankovic because she was a former No.1 and has very good defense,” Li said. “I still remember the last time we played in Rome. I was feeling pretty good and I was playing very well, but I still lost the match. I was pretty sad after that match. So before this match, Carlos was just telling me to remember how I felt after that match, and I was like, ‘Okay, yeah.’
“I was really, really happy about the way I was playing today. I was trying to serve and volley and coming into the net so that I could win the points fast, because she’s so good in the rallies.”
This is Li’s second time to be in the US Open quarterfinals. Her first was in 2009 where she lost to eventual champion Kim Clijsters. Her next opponent is Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova. The Chinese tennis star has a 3-0 head to head series advantage over her opponent and will be the heavily favored in this match.
