Victoria Azarenka retained her Australian Open earlier today, but it was Li Na who won the hearts of many with her battling performance in Melbourne.
By Declan Whooley
The Chinese player was on the ground on a couple of occasions today. In the first set, her legs gave way when Azarenka left her flat-footed, and later took a heavy bang to the head when falling with force during a rally.
She battled on in, with the support of the crowd behind her in an attempt to become the first Asian to claim the trophy, but in a final shorn of real quality, the Russian prevailed to make it back-to-back titles.
The game was also interrupted for fireworks to mark Australia Day, but did not disrupt Azarenka who remains the number one ranked player in the women’s game.
An eventful week for Na, who served up this mis-hit earlier in the tournament.
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