China's Li Na upset two-time champion Kim Clijsters on Friday to win the Sydney International title and her fourth career WTA crown. Eighth seed Li recovered from going behind 0-5 in the opening set to rally for a convincing 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 victory in 1hr 30min. It was her second WTA title in Australia after winning the Gold Coast event in 2008 and last year she was a surprise semi-finalist at the Australian Open.
Li will stay at her 11th ranking despite the win, while Clijsters missed the chance to move up from number three to two in the rankings ahead of Russian Vera Zvonareva. It was Li's second victory in six encounters with US Open champion Clijsters and her first win over the Belgian in three matches at the Sydney tournament. "Maybe right now I can say I am more confident on the court or I believe I can play much better," Li said.
"I have played here for many years and every time I see the name of the past champions every year I think about when my name will be there. "And when you to the centre court, you can see many pictures so next year I will see my picture there as well... yeah, it feels great."
Li, at 28 years 10 months, is the oldest woman to win the Sydney title in 21 years. Clijsters, 27, who won in Sydney in 2003 and 2007, had been a perfect 13-0 in semi-final and final matches since her return to tennis in August 2009 as Li pulled off the boilover. "I was found it very hard today to change directions once I was going backhand crosscourt with her," Clijsters said.
"Usually that is something I did very well against her in the past. I think that today she was doing that to me a little bit." It capped a magnificent week for Li after she eliminated two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the quarter-finals, Serbian Bojana Jovanovski in the semis and Australian Anastasia Rodionova and French qualifier Virginie Razzano in the earlier rounds.
"I think she's always a contender (who is probably) not being focused on enough," Clijsters said of Li. "She's definitely a player who has every quality to win a Grand Slam." Li became the first Chinese player to break into the world top 10 rankings after reaching the last four at last year's Australian Open.