French Open: Li Na beats Petra Kvitova to make quarters

French Open

Venue: Roland Garros, Paris
Date: 22 May - 5 June
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Red Button/online (UK only) & text commentary (#bbctennis) on BBC Sport website from 1000 BST; daily highlights programme on BBC Two; updates & commentary on BBC Radio 5 live/5 live sports extra

Li has now made it through to the last eight of every Grand Slam event

Sixth seed Li Na came back from a break down in the deciding set to beat Petra Kvitova and reach the French Open quarter-finals for the first time.

The Chinese player, runner-up at the Australian Open in January, overcame her ninth-seeded Czech opponent 2-6 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 44 minutes.
Next up for Li is fourth seed Victoria Azarenka or unseeded Ekaterina Makarova, who play later on Monday.
Maria Sharapova and Andrea Petkovic are also in action on day nine.

I don't like clay courts, but I'm still in the quarter-finals. For a professional player, if you don't like the arena, the weather, the surface, you still have to play the match

Li Na

Li's win made her the first Chinese player to make it through to the last eight at Roland Garros and she has now reached at least the quarter-finals of every Grand Slam tournament.
The 29-year-old hit fewer winners than Kvitova - 15 to 21 - but committed 19 unforced errors to her opponent's 33 and finished with a first-serve percentage of 70% to the Czech's 58%.
Li has never won a clay-court title on the WTA Tour but insists her lack pedigree on the surface should not prevent her from aiming high.
"If I win in the fourth round, what should I say?" asked Li, who was beaten by Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open final. "(That) I played bad tennis? I don't think so. I've tried to keep the same level as Melbourne, or even better.
"I don't like clay courts, but I'm still in the quarter-finals. For a professional player, if you don't like the arena, the weather, the surface, you still have to play the match.
"You have no choice. You have to challenge yourself to play."
Kvitova looked poised to win the match at 3-0 up in the deciding set but her momentum disappeared as Li won six games on the bounce to end the Czech's dream of a first Roland Garros quarter-final appearance.
"I was a little bit nervous," admitted the 21-year-old Kvitova. "I didn't take the chances that I had. After that I was a little bit down mentally."
World number seven Li was broken in the third game of the opening set when she sent a backhand beyond the baseline and Kvitova then saw off four break points on her own serve to open up a 4-2 advantage.
The Chinese player's erratic groundstrokes prevented her from capitalising on the succession of break point opportunities she procured, and when she double-faulted to gift Kvitova a 5-2 lead, the first set was all but over.
Kvitova continued to frustrate Li in the second set but the Chinese number one finally made a breakthrough by converting her ninth break point of the match with an overhead smash that put her 3-1 ahead.
Li broke again before closing out the set but fell 3-0 down in the decider before fighting back to level.
The world number seven then broke to go 4-3 up when Kvitova was unable to return a plunging crosscourt forehand and closed out victory on her second match point when Kvitova dragged a tired backhand into the tramlines.