Originally published Monday, January 7, 2013 at 12:22 AM
Li Na advances at Sydney International
Former champion Li Na advanced to the second round of the Sydney International with a 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Christina McHale on Monday to continue her winning streak to start 2013.
The Associated Press
Former champion Li Na advanced to the second round of the Sydney International with a 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Christina McHale on Monday to continue her winning streak to start 2013.
The fourth-seeded Li, who won the Shenzhen Open title last week, started her breakthrough 2011 season with a title in Sydney before reaching her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, then winning her first major at Roland Garros.
The 30-year-old Chinese player will next meet Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita, who ousted Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In an upset, American teenager Madison Keys ousted No. 17-ranked Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1.
Former No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic beat Tamira Paszek 6-2, 7-6 (5) to set up a showdown with unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci, who upset eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova 7-5, 7-5.
French Open finalist Sara Errani advanced 6-1, 6-3 over Czech qualifier Karolina Pliskova 6-1 6-3 and will go into a second-round match against Russia's Maria Kirilenko, a 7-5 6-2 winner over Australian wild-card Olivia Rogowska.
In other first-round matches, 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan beat Australia's Casey Dellacqua 6-4, 6-1 and former U.S. Open and French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her comeback from a knee injury that marred her 2012 season with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 win over Germany's Julia Gorges.
In men's matches, fifth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany beat Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-2 and Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin defeated Australian qualifier James Duckworth 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6(3).











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