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Li Na advances at Roland Garros

Shanghai Daily, May 28, 2013

• China's Li Na celebrates after winning a point against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues during their French Open first round match yesterday. Li won 6-3, 6-4.

  Former French Open champion Li Na started fast at Roland Garros to beat a nemesis.

  The 2011 French Open winner raced to a 4-love lead after 20 minutes and defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4 in the first round Monday.

  Seeded No. 6, Li came into the match 0-3 on clay against Medina Garrigues but broke serve six times and came forward aggressively, winning 13 of 16 points at the net.

  The 31-year-old Li is 22-6 this year and was runner-up to Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open. She next plays American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-4, 6-1.

  Li is one of six former champions in the women's draw.

  Zheng Jie, China's second-ranked female player, defeated Vesna Dolonc of Serbia 6-4, 6-1.

  In men's action, Rafael Nadal survived an early scare and successfully began his bid for an eighth French Open title by rallying past Daniel Brands of Germany, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3.

  Nadal, who had lost only 14 sets in 53 previous matches at Roland Garros, fell behind when he was broken in the ninth game and was on the verge of digging a deeper hole. He trailed 3-0 in the tiebreaker, then summoned his best shot-making to salvage the set and soon was in control.

  The Spaniard, who won a record seventh French Open title last year, improved to 53-1 at Roland Garros. He's 37-2 since returning in February after a seven-month layoff because of a left knee injury.

  No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1 in 57 minutes. Radwanska, last year's Wimbledon runner-up, played for the first time since withdrawing before last week's Brussels tournament with a recurrence of the right shoulder injury that has bothered her the past couple of years.

  "I decided to have a week of rest and just practice," she said. "I think it was a good move."

  She'll next play American Mallory Burdette, who won in her Roland Garros debut Sunday.

  Nick Kyrgios, at 18 the youngest player in the men's draw, made a successful Grand Slam debut by beating 34-year-old Radek Stepanek 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (11). Kyrgios won despite breaking serve only once.

  No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Aljaz Bedene 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. No. 31 Marcel Granollers lost to Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

  American Varvara Lepchenko, seeded 29th, beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1, 6-2. No. 24 Julia Goerges lost to Zuzana Kucova 7-6 (8), 6-0.

  Former top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki ended a five-match losing streak by defeating Laura Robson 6-3, 6-2.

  No. 15 Roberta Vinci beat Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-3, 6-0.

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