No. 8 seed, Na Li of China upset No. 3 seed, Kim Clijsters of Belgium at the 2011 WTA Medibank International played in Sydney, Australia on Friday.
It was the fourth career WTA title for 28-year-old Na, and she became the first Chinese player to ever win a “Premier” level title.
Kim, 27 years old, jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the 1st set before Na came back to win the set in a tie-break 7-3. Na said: “I was 5-0 down and saw the time, it was only 15 minutes. I thought, ‘Yeah, the fans, they pay a lot of money and the match will be over in half an hour.’ One or two points changed it, and it turned around like that.”
Kim said after the match, “I think I just softened the quality of my strokes. I wasn’t hitting as deep or aggressively as before, and she took over very quickly. I also found it very hard today to change directions once I was going crosscourt with her backhand. Usually that’s something I do very well against her…
Na still trails Kim 2-4 in career matches, and Kim won their previous meeting, on a Deco-Turf hardcourt in the quarterfinals of the 2009 US Open, 6-2, 6-4. Na won the one before that, on a hardcourt in the 4th round at Miami in 2007, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Kim’s three defeats since Wimbledon last July had all come at the hands of Vera Zvonareva, the Russian whom Kim would have displaced as the second-ranked player with a victory over Na. Instead, Kim’s serve and forehand deserted her when she seemed certain to land her third title in Sydney. She had 27 unforced errors and lost 13 of the last 17 games.
