China and Russia rubbed salt into the United States’ Wimbledon wounds on Monday by underlining their status as the emerging superpowers in women’s tennis.
Li Na became the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam while Russia saw three women make up the last eight with wins for Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina.
America’s last representative in either the women’s or men’s singles was sent packing when unheralded Shenay Perry lost in straight sets to French qualifier Severine Bremond.
Li, the Chinese number one and 27th seed, came from behind to beat the Czech Republic’s Nicole Vaidisova 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 and will now face second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium for a place in the last four.
The 24-year-old from Wuhan showed that her third-round defeat of former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was no fluke and illustrated why she has leapt 40 places in the rankings to a career high 30.
”I’m proud for myself and for my country,” said Li.
”Now I hope to go further and show that women’s tennis in China is getting better and better.”
Li’s achievements won praise from French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne.
”Beating Kuznetsova and Vaidisova shows what a good player she is,” said the Belgian.
”There are a lot of players coming from China and I’m sure we will see more of them, especially on grass because they are great fighters.”
Maria Sharapova struggled with searing 32-degree heat as well as the stubborn resistance of Italy’s Flavia Pennetta to reach the quarterfinals.
The 2004 champion toiled for almost two-and-half hours to overcome the 16th seed 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 and now faces Dementieva.
Fourth seed Sharapova had been dramatically under-par for most of her Court Two encounter but after taking a lengthy toilet break at the end of the second set she returned with renewed vigour to ease through to the last eight.
By contrast, seventh seed Dementieva made sure of a her place in the last eight with a quickfire 6-2, 6-0 win over Perry, ending America’s interest in both singles competitions.
Myskina reached the last eight for the second year in succession beating Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, the conqueror of defending women’s champion Venus Williams, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) and will face top seed Amelie Mauresmo or Ana Ivanovic for a semifinal place.
French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, seeking an elusive title here to complete her Grand Slam collection, steamrolled the feeble challenge of Slovakian 15th seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 in just 65 minutes.
She next faces Bremond, who continued her extraordinary run by putting out Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama, the conqueror of Martina Hingis, 7-6 (13/11), 6-3.
Clijsters eased through with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Polish wildcard Agnieszka Radwanska.
Men’s 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt reached the last eight with a 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 win against Spain’s David Ferrer and next meets Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, the Australian Open runner-up.
Later on Monday, Roger Federer continues his pursuit of a fourth consecutive Wimbledon title when he faces Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, while second seed Rafael Nadal tackles Irakli Labadze of Georgia. — AFP
