Li Na knocked out of Rogers Cup

Li Na knocked out of Rogers Cup

Li Na of China leaves the court after being defeated by Samantha Stosur of Australia during their third round match at the Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament in Toronto August 11, 2011. Li lost 0-2.


TORONTO, Aug. 11 -- Li Na, the reigning French Open champion and the world No. 6 player, was ousted in her first match on Thursday at the 2011 Rogers Cup here, yielding 6-2, 6-4 to Australia's Samantha Stosur.

Li became the second top 10 player to be eliminated in an opening match, following the stunning defeat of world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on Wednesday.

Li trailed Stosur, the French Open runner-up last year, most of the match, losing her first service game to give Stosur an early lead of 3-1 in the first set. Li claimed her next service game after a tough fight with six deuces, before losing the first set 6- 2.

Li appeared rustic during the first match since the Wimbledon Open in June, sending returns long throughout the match. In the first round of Rogers Cup, Li Na got a bye as one of top WTA players, and then walked over to the next round after her opponent, fellow Chinese player Peng Shuai, withdrew from the match due to a hip injury.

"(It is) always tough after (a) break and come back for the first match, because I have six or seven weeks (when I) didn't play a tournament," Li said after the match.

"I didn't handle the rhythm very well in this first match after Wimbledon," she conceded.

"I even didn't know what I should do on the court, not like during the clay court season.

"I was feeling I'm like juniors on the court," she said, smiling ruefully.

The French Open is played on clay court.

Despite the setback, Li is putting it all behind and looking forward to the next WTA tournament in Cincinatti and the US Open from August 29 to September 11 in New York City.

"I will, yeah, start training harder tomorrow to try to be ready in Cincinnati," she said.

"Now is getting US Open already."

With the win, Stosur, the event's No. 10 seed with a WTA ranking of 11, will advance to the quarterfinals.

Samantha Stosur of Australia returns a shot to Li Na of China during their match at the Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament in Toronto August 11, 2011.

Samantha Stosur of Australia celebrates defeating Li Na of China during their third round match at the Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament in Toronto August 11, 2011.

(Reuters)