Li Na made a hugely impressive start to her Wimbledon campaign, defeating world No41 Ksenia Pervak, of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-1.
Na won her maiden Grand Slam title — the French Open — and reached the Australian Open Final last year, triggering huge interest in tennis in her native China.
As a result, Na is one of the most important players on the women’s tour which is attempting to maximise its image in China where sponsors are starting to put significant money into the sport around the world.
She has more than 2.5million fans on Chinese social media and they will have been impressed with her work on grass today as the world No11 moved confidently while firing off trademark ground‑stroke winners.
Na broke in the eighth game of the first set and wrapped it up in 36 minutes to the dismay of Pervak, who could not match her opponent’s consistency.
Na’s win was effectively sealed with two early breaks in the second set that put her 4‑1 ahead as Pervak’s ground-stroke errors multiplied.
Na’s hitting from the baseline was effective and she did not appear to be troubled by a right knee injury despite playing with a bandage support. She wrapped up the first-round match in 65 minutes.
Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, who reached the semi-finals as a wild card last year, defeated the highly rated Croatian Petra Martic 6-4, 6-2.
Lisicki is now the world No15 and had to overcome a worrying ankle injury that she suffered in April.
She had lost the opening match of each of her tournaments since that injury – Rome, Strasbourg, French Open and Birmingham – which made this victory over the world No42 even more special.
