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| PLISKOVA OUT IN BNP PARIBAS OPEN 2014 |
Top seed Li Na made her way comfortably through to the Round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-3, 6-4 over Czech Karolina Pliskova in the first match on Stadium 1 Monday. After spending 94 minutes on court in her opening match against countrywoman Zheng Jie, Li took 13 minutes less to defeat Pliskova.
She converted on four of her nine break points, while dropping serve twice. "At least I can win the last point, and still stay in the tournament," she said. "It's always tough, because it's the first time to be the top seed in a big tournament and I never have this experience before.
So it's very tough to hang in there, especially at the beginning of the tournament." The 32 year old is looking to win the BNP Paribas Open title for the first time and continue her impressive start to 2014. She opened her season with titles in Shenzhen and the Australian Open, and improved to a 15-1 season record with Monday’s victory. Li next faces 26-year-old Aleksandra Wozniak, who backed up her win over No. 15 seed Sabine Lisicki by defeating No. 21 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-0. Li holds a 2-1 record against Wozniak, with their most recent meeting coming five years ago in Los Angeles.
The Canadian reached a career-high No. 21 ranking that season. Eighth seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic finished with a flourish in her third-round match against two-time finalist and No. 27 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, defeating the Russian 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. Kvitova will play 12th-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova for a place in the quarter-finals. Cibulkova also beat a Russian, No. 23 seed Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 7-5.
itova leads Cibulkova 4-1 in their head-to-head, but managed to win just two games in their most recent meeting last year in Sydney.
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