MOSCOW, January 25 (R-Sport) – China’s Li Na stormed to the Australian Open title on Saturday, defeating her Slovakian opponent Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets in a nervy final.
Li prevailed 7-6(3), 6-0, edging a first set in which both players made numerous unforced errors. Losing the first-set tiebreak took the fight out of the diminutive Cibulkova and the 31-year-old Li cruised to victory.
The Chinese world No. 4 becomes the oldest winner of the Australian Open in the modern era, and the fourth-oldest woman to win any Open Era Grand Slam, behind only Martina Navratilova, Virginia Wade and Serena Williams.
Li’s win came in her third Australian Open final, after she was beaten by Kim Clijsters in 2011 and lost last year to Victoria Azarenka in a final marred when Li was briefly knocked unconscious in a fall.
Li, the only Chinese player ever to win a Grand Slam, adds the Australian Open title to her 2011 French Open triumph, when she conquered Francesca Schiavone in the final.
Spanish world No. 1 Rafael Nadal faces Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in the men’s final Sunday.
Earlier Saturday, Germany’s Alexander Zverev won the boys’ junior title, and Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova won the girls’ title.
