Chinese Li carries home interest alone in last eight

Chinese Li Na was the only player to carry home interest in the last eight of the women's singles in Olympic tennis event, coming back from one set down to beat Kaia Kanepi from Estonia 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the third round on Wednesday.

In the opening set, Li fired eight winners to just one of the Estonian, but was troubled by her uncharacteristic 31 unforced errors to 17 of Kanepi, losing at 6-4.

Coming into the second set, Li played a consistent game and did not give her opponent any break point, while converting on five of all her 10 chances of breaking in the remaining time.

"First, I did not know much about my opponent, and second, I wanted to win so much. That led to my loss in the first set. In the second set, I tried to reduce the faults and tried to find the opportunities to attack."

Having made her Olympic debut, Li came into play as an unseeded player due to long-time injury, but she produced the biggest upset in the first round by beating Russian world number three Svetlana Kuznetsova.

She will play world number eight Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.

"I hope I can hold on to the last round and try to win the game step by step. We all know that Venus is a very good player. It is really hard to predict what will happen next. But I will try my best tomorrow."

Elsewhere, China's Zheng Jie lost to Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3.

中国“金花”１３日继续在网球场绽放，刚刚结束的一场奥运会网球女单八分之一决赛中，李娜以２：１战胜爱沙尼亚选手卡·卡内皮，成为首位晋级八强的选手。这是中国球员在奥运会网球单打比赛中的最好成绩。

李娜和对手此前并没有交手记录。第一盘一开场双方就相互破发，比分交替上升。最后两局中，李娜打得急躁，回球质量不高，被对手抓住机会先下一盘。第二盘，李娜通过调动对手，连续破发，以６：２扳回一盘。

决胜盘中，对手已无还手之力，没有拿下一局，在全场观众的欢呼声中，李娜越战越勇，以６：０剃了对手一个“光头”。

本轮结束后，李娜已闯进网球女单八强，成为首位晋级八强的选手。下一轮，李娜将极可能与声名显赫的大威相遇。大威拥有７个大满贯奖杯，本赛季收获了温网冠军，也是悉尼奥运会单、双打冠军，状态相当好。

奥运会单打首轮比赛中，李娜就力克赛会三号种子、世界排名第三的库兹涅佐娃，令人称道。她目前世界排名４２位，最好成绩是２００６年温网八强。

李娜的最高世界排名曾达到过１６位，由于伤病困扰，近两年参加职业赛不多。