TENNIS in DEPTH.

The Chinese player, beaten by Kim Clijsters in the final of the Australian Open in January, was overpowered by her Czech opponent in the first set but turned things around in the second. She moved Kvitova, who could be a big danger at Wimbledon, around the court extremely well and used her superb accuracy to great effect. The Czech ninth seed looked like she had wrested back control of the match when she won the opening three games of the decider but Li dug deep and clinched victory when Kvitova fired a backhand wide. Li changed her coach following a poor run after Melbourne, swapping husband Jiang Shan for Denmark Fed Cup captain Michael Mortensen. This tournament is the last of a trial period that has also included semi-final appearances in Madrid and Rome, but Li admitted she does not know if Mortensen will want to take up the position on a permanent basis.

She said: “I would like to carry on working with him. But after this tournament I will have to ask him if he has the time to travel with me, because he has a family.”

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