Na Li (tennis) life and biography

Na Li is a Chinese professional tennis player.

As of April 11, 2011, she is ranked as No. 7 in the world according to the Women's Tennis Association singles rankings; her career high was one spot higher, at 6. She has won four WTA and nineteen ITF titles. At the 2011 Australian Open, Li Na became China's first Grand Slam singles finalist player.

Singles Titles
2010: Birmingham
2008: Gold Coast
2004: Guangzhou

Doubles Titles
2006: Birmingham
2000: Tashkent

2010:

Li's first tournament of 2010 was the 2010 ASB Classic in Auckland. where she was seeded second. She was defeated by Kaia Kanepi in the first round 6–1 6–3. In the Medibank International she defeated 4th seed Caroline Wozniacki 2–6 6–3 6–2. She lost to Flavia Pennetta in the second round, 2–6, 6–7(4).

Li was seeded 16th at the 2010 Australian Open. She defeated World No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki in the 4th round 6–4 6–3 and then came from a set and 3–5 down to defeat World No. 6 Venus Williams 2–6, 7–6(4), 7–5 in her first ever Australian Open quarterfinal, and only her third ever Grand Slam quarterfinals. In the semi-finals she lost to Serena Williams 7–6(4), 7–6(1). As a result of this performance, Li was the first Chinese woman ever to be ranked in the Top 10 of women's professional tennis.

At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Li, the number 8 seed, defeated María José Martínez Sánchez 7–6(7) 2–6 6–4 in the second round. She then came from a 6–3 5–2 deficit to defeat Marion Bartoli in the 3rd round, 3–6 7–5 6–0. Li retired in her Quarterfinals match against Shahar Pe'er. Li was trailing 5–7 0–3 when she retired. Li continued her season at the inaugural Malaysian Open. As the #2 seed, she fell to Tatjana Malek in the first round. As the 7th seed at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, Li fell to Elena Baltacha in the second round 6–7(5), 6–2, 6–7(7). Li was the 8th seed at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, but fell to Timea Bacsinszky in the second round.

At the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Li defeated defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round before falling to eventual runner-up Sam Stosur 6–3, 6–3 in the quarterfinals. Li was the 11th seed at the 2010 French Open. She fell to eventual champion #17 Francesca Schiavone in the third round.

Li was seeded 1st at the 2010 AEGON Classic. She defeated 4th seed Aravane Rezaï in the semifinals and #2 seed Maria Sharapova in the final to win the tournament. With the win Li will return to the top ten in the WTA rankings. Seeded 7th at the 2010 AEGON International, Li retired with a knee injury when she leads 7–6 (6) Elena Baltacha in the first round.

Li is seeded 9th at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated 7th seed Agnieszka Radwańska to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the second time in her career where she lost to world #1 and defending champion Serena Williams 7–5, 6–3. By going into the last eight Li will once again return to the top ten in the WTA rankings. At the 2010 US Open, she started off as the #8 seed, but suffered an upset to Kateryna Bondarenko 2–6, 6–4, 6–2.

2011:

She defeated 4th seed Victoria Azarenka in straight sets 7–5, 6–2, and 7th seed Maria Sharapova 6–4, 7–5 to reach her second straight Grand Slam final. She will reach a new career high of 5 by reaching the final and 4 if she wins in the final.

At the Australian Open in January 2011, Na Li was the runner-up, the first tennis player from China to reach a major championship match. At the French Open on Saturday, June 4 — when she will play defending champion Francesca Schiavone — Na Li can become the first Grand Slam champion from her nation of more than 1 billion people.

Personal:

Husband and coach is Jiang Shan; married on January 27, 2006
Introduced to tennis at age 9 after playing badminton for two years
Baseliner who prefers hardcourts
Father is Sheng-Peng; mother is Yan-Ping; is an only child
Currently studying at Huazhong Institute of Science & Technology
Other sport interests are swimming, reading, visiting Beijing and shopping
Speaks Chinese, English
Favorite color is black; enjoys slow music and Korean movies
Admires Andre Agassi
Favorite tournament is Miami
Goal is to win a Grand Slam title.

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