TENNIS: LI NA will be the shortest name ever engraved on the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen if she beats the defending champion, Francesca Schiavone, in the final of the French Open tomorrow. But it is a name tennis will not readily forget.
China, the sponsors tell us, cannot wait to embrace the game, a claim inspired more by hope than evidence. However, a victory for Li would give substance to the dreams of those capitalist missionaries waiting to break into the world’s most inviting sporting marketplace.
Such thoughts were far from Li’s mind as she gritted her teeth to beat Maria Sharapova 6-4, 7-5 in yesterday’s semi-final on Court Philippe Chatrier. In a game with as many twists as the wind she handled the conditions with controlled energy to reach her second grand slam final in succession, having competed for the title in Melbourne this year.
She is an engaging character but was not drawn to hyperbole afterwards. “I think prove a little bit for China tennis,” she said. “I’m sure they showed the match same time in China, so maybe children, they saw the match and they think that maybe one day they can do the same or even better.” Sharapova knows well the demands and aspirations of the corporate world who see more in her than a beautiful swing and a game built on fierce will. It was not quite enough here, as she admitted later.
“She certainly played a lot better than I did,” the number seven seed said. “She played the crucial points better. I had some chances in the first set on her serve, a couple of games that went deuce and a couple of break points.
“That gives your opponent confidence. At times I didn’t serve well. I was rushing more than I had to and, considering the conditions, maybe I was just trying to go for too big second serves.”
If the first semi-final delivered grit, the second provided the passion. Schiavone, who delighted the crowd when she won the title here last year, had to disappoint them yesterday, beating the French number one, Marion Bartoli, 6-3, 6-3.
It was not as easy as the scoreline suggests and there were several rallies where neither was dominant until the final stroke, a contest as hard to judge in some ways as a close boxing match.
In the end Schiavone, the oldest finalist here, threw too many good punches for the French woman with the Italian name (Bartoli has Corsican blood). Schiavone said later: “When I was young I dreamed about this tournament,” she said. “When I come here, I feel something special.”
Romance aside, Schiavone has a game that might have been invented for these conditions and this surface, imparting heavy spin from all angles and willing to run down all lost causes on her 30-year-old legs which, in Rome last month, showed signs of tiredness.
She played well at the net and from the baseline, normally Bartoli's manor. She mixed it up expertly, keeping Bartoli second-guessing her every nuance. "Because the ball is bouncing a lot, when there is sun it is better for me because I can play deep," Schiavone said. She could spoil the China dream tomorrow with such subtleties but Li, a profoundly intelligent player, will no doubt have a strategy to give her a good fight. GuardianService
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Semi-finals: (6) Na Li (Chn) bt (7) Maria Sharapova (Rus) 6-4 7-5, (5) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt (11) Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-3 6-3.
MEN’S DOUBLES: Semi-finals: (2) M Mirnyi (Blr) and D Nestor (Can) bt (4) M Llodra (Fra) and N Zimonjic (Ser) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5), J S Cabal (Col) and E Schwank (Arg) bt (1) B Bryan (USA) and M Bryan (USA) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.
MIXED DOUBLES: Final: C Dellacqua (Aus) and SLipsky (USA) bt (1) K Srebotnik (Slo) and N Zimonjic (Ser) 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 10-7.
