2014 Li Na tennis season

2014 Li Na tennis season

Li at the 2014 Miami Masters
Name	Li Na
Country	China
Calendar prize money	$3,409,885
Singles
Season record	28–7 (80%)
Calendar titles	2
Current ranking	No. 6
Ranking change from previous year	3
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W
French Open	1R
Wimbledon	3R
US Open	A
Injuries
Injuries	Knee injury (US Open Series)
Last updated on: 8 September 2014.

The 2014 Li Na tennis season officially began on 30 December with the start of the 2014 WTA Tour as the defending champion of the 2014 Shenzhen Open. In July, Li ended her nearly 2 year collaboration with coach Carlos Rodríguez. Li announced her retirement from professional tennis on 19 September citing recurring and worsening knee injuries. Li also made the longest winning streak in 2014 WTA Tour with 13.

Yearly summary

Early hard court season and Australian Open

Shenzhen Open

Li Na started her season as the defending champion at the 2014 Shenzhen Open. She defeated former world number two and wildcard Vera Zvonareva and Nadiia Kichenok in the first two rounds, before being challenged by Monica Niculescu in the quarterfinals, winning in three tight sets. She then defeated rising German Annika Beck in the semifinals to reach the final for the second consecutive year, where she defeated compatriot Peng Shuai in straight sets, marking the first successful title defense of her career.

Australian Open

Instead of more preparation in Sydney, Li chose to compete at the Australian Open directly this year, at which she had been a finalist twice in the last three years. Intent on going one better, Li routed current junior top 2 players Ana Konjuh and Belinda Bencic in the first two rounds. After quickly losing an error strewn first set against Lucie Šafářová, she fended off a match point when trailing 5–6 in the second before rebounding in the tiebreak and decisive set to avoid the upset. She finished the match with 17 winners to 50 unforced errors. In her fourth round encounter with Ekaterina Makarova, Li delivered the third bagel in the tournament, easing through with a straight set victory. Li followed this up with another dominant performance against first-time Australian Open quarterfinalist Flavia Pennetta to set up a clash with teenager Eugenie Bouchard in the last four. Li easily won the first set having won 20 of the first 23 points to lead 5–0. Down 0–2 in the second set, she reeled off six of the next eight games to close out the Canadian. She reached the final for the third time, where she faced maiden Grand Slam finalist Dominika Cibulková. After winning the first set in a tiebreak, Li stormed through the second set at love to claim her second Grand Slam title, thus becoming the first Asian Australian Open champion and sixth woman to win the title after being match point down.^[1][2]

Her post-match speech became one of the most talked-about moments in the event. Because of her limited English, she jokingly remarked that her agent should "make [her] rich" and her husband is "lucky" to find her before thanking the crowd and everyone involved.^[3]

Middle East series

Qatar Open

Since Li missed out on last year edition's of the Qatar Open due to injury, she had no points to defend. She won her second round match against Magdaléna Rybáriková before being upset by qualifier and world No. 134 Petra Cetkovská in three sets, her first loss of the season. However, she reached a new career-high of world No. 2 after the tournament as a result of defending champion and current world No. 2 Victoria Azarenka's withdrawal.

North American hard court season

Indian Wells Masters

After missing Indian Wells in 2013, Li was the first seed this year in the absence of Serena Williams, the first time she was seeded first at a Premier Mandatory event. She enjoyed a first round bye before dispatching compatriot Zheng Jie, Karolína Plíšková and Aleksandra Wozniak in convincing fashion. In the quarterfinals she faced her first top 20 opponent of the season in Dominika Cibulková, a rematch of the Australian Open final. After Li took the opening set comfortably, Cibulková quickly built a 5–1 lead in the second due a plethora of unforced errors off Li's racquet. Li managed to recover three games but was unable to salvage the set. After the pair traded breaks early in the third, Cibulková held double break point with Li serving at 3-all. From there Li won 12 of the next 16 points to clinch the final three games and the victory after 2 hours and 36 minutes of play, maintaining her perfect record against the Slovak. With this win, Li advanced to her first Indian Wells semifinal since 2007.^[4] Facing 20th seed Flavia Pennetta in the semifinal, she was defeated in straight sets.^[5]

Miami Masters

Li received a bye in the first round of Miami Masters. In the second round she was bound to face Alisa Kleybanova, however the Russian withdrew shortly prior to the match due to a viral illness. In her third round encounter with Madison Keys, she erased two set points in the first set before forcing a tiebreak, which she won. In the second set she won five consecutive games from 0–2 down and eventually took the match handily. She then had an easy win against the 15th seed Carla Suárez Navarro, setting up a quartferfinal with Caroline Wozniacki. After Li burst out to a 4–1 lead in the first set, Wozniacki won four games in a row to go up 5–4, before Li fired back with three games of her own to take the set. The Dane was up 5–3 in the second set before Li reeled off four consecutive games to advance. In the semifinal, she met Dominika Cibulková for the third time this year. Li blew two set points when serving for the first set on her first attempt at 5–3, but successfully closed it out on her second. From 2–all in the second set, Li lost 6 games in a row to lose the set and fall behind 0–2 in the decider, before upping her game to seize six of the last seven games to seal the win, securing a place in her maiden Premier Mandatory final, where she was defeated by world No. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets despite having a set point in the first set.

Clay court season

Stuttgart Open

Li withdrew from this year edition of Stuttgart Open before the tournament.

Madrid Open

Li started her clay season at the Madrid Open, where she lost to Madison Keys in the first round last year. She defeated Kirsten Flipkens and countrywoman Zheng Jie in the first two rounds without much trouble. In the third round match against Sloane Stephens, Li surrendered the first set but regained form to earn a place in the quarter final. She was defeated by eventual champion Maria Sharapova in three sets, after winning the first set comfortably.

Italian Open

At the Italian Open where she was sent home by former world No.1 Jelena Janković last year, Li received a bye for first round and defeated Australian Casey Dellacqua in the second. She then defeated Sam Stosur for the first time after 6 encounters in her career. In the quarterfinals against Sara Errani, Li suffered her first loss to the home favourite.

French Open

The former champion suffered her earliest loss at the event to Kristina Mladenovic. She was the first Grand Slam champion to lose in the opening round of the following Grand Slam since Petra Kvitová did so at the 2011 US Open.

Grass court season

Wimbledon

The only grass court event Li participated in this year was the Wimbledon Championships. She easily defeated Paula Kania and Yvonne Meusburger in the first two rounds. She then bowed out to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in two tiebreak sets.

US Open Series

Li withdrew from the 2014 Rogers Cup, 2014 Western & Southern Open and 2014 US Open this year due to a knee injury, at all of which she was a defending semifinalist. She surrendered her world No. 2 ranking to Simona Halep following the Rogers Cup.^[6]

After skipping the entire US Open Series due to a left knee injury, Li officially announced her retirement from the sport on 19 September 2014, also withdrawing from the tournaments in Wuhan (her hometown) and Beijing. She was ranked no.6 by the Women's Tennis Association at the time of her retirement.^[7][8][9]

All matches

Singles matches

Tournament	Match #	Round	Opponent	Rank	Result	Score
Shenzhen Open Shenzhen, China WTA International Hard, outdoor 30 December 2013 – 4 January 2014	1	1R	Vera Zvonareva	N/A	Win	7–5, 6–3
	2	2R	Nadiia Kichenok	#101	Win	6–1, 6–4
	3	QF	Monica Niculescu	#59	Win	7–5, 4–6, 6–4
	4	SF	Annika Beck	#58	Win	6–1, 6–3
	5	F	Peng Shuai	#42	Win (1)	6–4, 7–5
Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard, outdoor 13–26 January 2014	6	1R	Ana Konjuh	#241	Win	6–2, 6–0
	7	2R	Belinda Bencic	#187	Win	6–0, 7–6(7–5)
	8	3R	Lucie Šafářová	#26	Win	1–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–3
	9	4R	Ekaterina Makarova	#22	Win	6–2, 6–0
	10	QF	Flavia Pennetta	#29	Win	6–2, 6–2
	11	SF	Eugenie Bouchard	#31	Win	6–2, 6–4
	12	F	Dominika Cibulková	#24	Win (2)	7–6(7–3), 6–0
Qatar Ladies Open Doha, Qatar WTA Premier 5 Hard, outdoor 10–16 February 2014	–	1R	Bye
	13	2R	Magdaléna Rybáriková	#32	Win	6–1, 5–7, 6–2
	14	3R	Petra Cetkovská	#134	Loss	6–7(2–7), 6–2, 4–6
BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, United States WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 3–16 March 2014	–	1R	Bye
	15	2R	Zheng Jie	#58	Win	6–1, 7–5
	16	3R	Karolína Plíšková	#67	Win	6–3, 6–4
	17	4R	Aleksandra Wozniak	#241	Win	6–1, 6–4
	18	QF	Dominika Cibulková	#11	Win	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
	19	SF	Flavia Pennetta	#21	Loss	6–7(5–7), 3–6
Sony Open Tennis Miami, United States WTA Premier Mandatory Hard, outdoor 17–30 March 2014	–	1R	Bye
	–	2R	Alisa Kleybanova	#112	Walkover	N/A
	20	3R	Madison Keys	#38	Win	7–6(7–3), 6–3
	21	4R	Carla Suárez Navarro	#17	Win	6–0, 6–2
	22	QF	Caroline Wozniacki	#18	Win	7–5, 7–5
	23	SF	Dominika Cibulková	#11	Win	7–5, 2–6, 6–3
	24	F	Serena Williams	#1	Loss	5–7, 1–6
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart, Germany WTA Premier Clay, indoor 21–27 April 2014	Withdrew
Mutua Madrid Open Madrid, Spain WTA Premier Mandatory Clay, outdoor 3–11 May 2014	25	1R	Kirsten Flipkens	#23	Win	6–1, 7–6(9–7)
	26	2R	Zheng Jie	#60	Win	6–2, 6–3
	27	3R	Sloane Stephens	#17	Win	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
	28	QF	Maria Sharapova	#9	Loss	6–2, 6–7(5–7), 3–6
Internazionali BNL d'Italia Rome, Italy WTA Premier 5 Clay, outdoor 12–18 May 2014	–	1R	Bye
	29	2R	Casey Dellacqua	#53	Win	6–1, 6–4
	30	3R	Samantha Stosur	#18	Win	6–3, 6–1
	31	QF	Sara Errani	#11	Loss	3–6, 6–4, 2–6
French Open Paris, France Grand Slam Clay, outdoor 25 May – 8 June 2014	32	1R	Kristina Mladenovic	#104	Loss	5–7, 6–3, 1–6
Wimbledon London, United Kingdom Grand Slam Grass, outdoor 23 June – 7 July 2014	33	1R	Paula Kania	#175	Win	7–5, 6–2
	34	2R	Yvonne Meusburger	#38	Win	6–2, 6–2
	35	3R	Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová	#43	Loss	6–7(5–7), 6–7(5–7)

Tournament Schedule

Singles schedule

Li's 2014 singles tournament schedule is as follows:

Yearly records

Head-to-head matchups

Bold indicates that the player was in the Top 10, italics denotes that the player was in the Top 20 (at the time of the match being played). This list is ordered by number of wins to number of losses in chronological order played.

Finals

Singles: 3 (2–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	8.	000000002014-01-04-0000January 4, 2014	Shenzhen Open, China	Hard	Peng Shuai	6–4, 7–5
Winner	9.	January 25, 2014	Australian Open, Australia	Hard	Dominika Cibulková	7–6(7–3), 6–0
Runner-up	12.	March 29, 2014	Sony Open Tennis, United States	Hard	Serena Williams	5–7, 1–6

Earnings

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

See also

• 2014 Maria Sharapova tennis season
• 2014 Victoria Azarenka tennis season
• 2014 Serena Williams tennis season
• 2014 WTA Tour

References