We have a nice “unusual final” in Cincinnati in the ladies draw. It is not about Azarenka, Radwanska, Sharapova or Serena, but we are talking about Li Na and Angelique Kerber.
KERBER – KVITOVA 6-1 2-6 6-4
The German is on the roll. After defeating (an imperfect) Serena in straight sets, now she managed to beat also Kvitova in a 3 set thriller. Basically, she defeated the last two Wimbledon Champions back to back!
“My tactic was to move very well and bring the balls back and also deep. So I tried to do this. I start very well in the second set. I mean, she hit winners and I had no chance actually, but I was just try to fighting until the last point and keep moving well. So, yeah, I do my plan actually very well tonight,” Kerber said.
”I did a lot mistakes, so I think that was the problem.” said Kvitova “I think that Li Na win (the next match). I think that if she will not as crazy as me today, she can win,” Kvitova said. “Yeah, I saw her when she played tonight against the Venus, and I think if she will play similar, I think she will have tomorrow going for the volleys. So we will see. ”
LI NA – VENUS WILLIAMS 7-5 3-6 6-1
The match has been immensely affected by a back pain suffered by Venus during the warm up. This made it impossible por the American to take advantage of her powerful service to give a big advantage to a combative Li Na.
“Just in my warmup it was bothering me. I was like ‘Oh, no’. I tried to fix it between the warmup and the match, but it didn’t work,” Williams said . “Right now I don’t know why my back hurts, I just know it hurts. After this I’m going to get an evaluation and see what exactly is happening,”
Li Na was elated by her win and her confidence about her performance in the American continent as this will be her 2nd consecutive back to back final (she was the runner up in last week tournament in Montreal). “It’s amazing this year, because in the last two years I hardly got a point in North America. So I’m happy I can be in the final again,”
HEAD TO HEAD
Li Na and Kerber H2H is 4-1 for Li Na. This year they have already played twice. The Chinese won in the third round in Madrid 7-5 6-4 while the German won in Indian Wells 6-4 6-2 in the quarters. Li Na is the favorite, but Kerber is now really full of confidence.
