Li Na ousted

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — After playing so well, so often, at this year’s first two major tournaments, Li Na’s run at Wimbledon came to an early end.

Only 2½ weeks after giving China its first Grand Slam singles championship at the French Open, and five months after being the runner-up at the Australian Open, Li was knocked out in the second round at the All England Club on Thursday, the grass-court tournament’s biggest upset so far.

The third-seeded Li wasted two match points and succumbed to the speedy serving of wild-card entry Sabine Lisicki of Germany in a 3-6, 6-4, 8-6 loss. Lisicki hit 17 aces, including one at 124 mph, which the WTA said is the fastest serve by a woman all season.

“I mean, (from) the first point ‘til the end of the match, every serve was, like, around 117 miles (per hour),” said Li, 14-1 in Grand Slam play in 2011 before Thursday. “I mean, this is impossible for the women.”

Elsewhere, Serena Williams again was pushed to three sets before winning, then complained a bit about having to play on Court 2 instead of Centre Court or Court 1; Roger Federer overwhelmed his opponent in straight sets, then basked in a standing ovation after playing under the retractable roof at the main stadium for the first time; and two-time French Open runner-up Robin Soderling came back after losing the first two sets to beat 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt 6-7 (5), 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

By the looks of things so far, Williams is going to face a true test every time she takes the court this year at Wimbledon, which she has won four times.

She was forced to a third set for the fourth consecutive match since returning to the tour after nearly a year away because of a series of health scares.

Williams’ match was played under a threatening sky, and rain fell intermittently later; three of the tournament’s four days had delays. Four second-round women’s matches were postponed, including those involving 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, 2007 runner-up Marion Bartoli and top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki.

Some matches were halted in progress, including 122nd-ranked Ryan Harrison of the United States against No. 7-seeded David Ferrer of Spain. Harrison was leading 2-1 in sets, but Ferrer was up a break at 4-2 in the fourth, when play was suspended because of darkness.

In a match that barely finished marathon man John Isner of the United States failed to earn a single break point and lost to 16th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3.

Almagro won despite Isner’s 28 aces on Court 18 — which also happened to be the site of Isner’s record-breaking, 11-hour, 5-minute victory over Nicolas Mahut in the first round at the All England Club in 2010, a match that ended 70-68 in the fifth set.

“It’s the same as any other court,” Isner said, “but it was a bit weird out there.”

Tags: li na, sports, tennis, wimbledon