Li Beats Sharapova In Birmingham Final

Written by: Staff on 13th June 2010

Li Beats Sharapova In Birmingham Final |

Na Li flat-lined to her first grass-court title.

The top-seeded Li won five consecutive games to close a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Maria Sharapova and win the Aegon Classic in Birmingham today. It was Li’s first tournament title since she won the Gold Coast crown and should propel her into the top 10 when the new WTA Tour rankings are released on Monday.

The 2009 tournament runner-up scored her second straight win over Sharapova in seven career meetings. Li beat Sharapova, 6-4, 6-4, in the 2009 semifinals before losing in the final to Magdalena Rybrarikova.

“It’s always exciting to be in the final as you can show your best tennis to everyone and there’s nothing better than winning a tournament,” Li said. “I won because I hit the ball flatter today and it makes it easier to win points on grass. Overall I have had a good start to the year and that’s important. If you play well in the beginning of the year, it gives you more confidence for the rest of the year.”

Two-time champion Sharapova opened the match with a break and built a 3-2 lead, but Li ralled from a 15-30 deficit in the sixth game to level the match.

Sharapova’s unforced error total grew. She committed an error on Li’s third set point as the 11th-ranked Chinese sealed the first set in 55 minutes.

Pounding out deep combinations, Li broke for a 3-1 second-set lead and never looked back in closing out a one hour, 19-minute win.

“I came here to play as many matches as I could on grass. I would have loved to win but she was the better player today and she did many things better than me,” Sharapova said. “She returned great. I put her under no pressure whatsoever on her serve. Even though the first set was close, I was in trouble from early on and I gave her too many looks at second serves. I had my opportunities — a few points here and there could have made a difference.”

Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, said she’s pleased with her preparation for The Championships, which start on June 21st.

“The goal was to get as many matches as I did; I’ve played opponents with different types of game. It’s always nice to win a tournament but it doesn’t always happen,” Sharapova said. “The week before Wimbledon is always great as there’s no one around and you can walk around and take it all in. You can really sense the feeling of the tournament.”

Topics: Aegon, Career, Combinations, Confidence, Consecutive Games, First Grass, Gold Coast, Grass Court, Lead, Many Things, Maria Sharapova, Match, Sixth Game, Tennis, Time Champion, Unforced Error, Victory, Wimbledon, Wimbledon Champion, Wta Tour Rankings