China’s Li, Peng fire as Japanese falter

Chinese pair Li Na and Peng Shuai led the Asian charge on the first day of the Australian Open yesterday, winning their first round clashes in stifling conditions under the beating Melbourne sun.
Fifth seed Li, who reached the final in Melbourne last year, overcame Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-1 at the Hisense Arena while Peng, seeded 16, saw off the challenge of France’s Aravane Rezai 6-3, 6-4.
But there was no fairytale result for veteran Japanese player Kimiko Date-Krumm, who at 41 years and 109 days became the event’s second-oldest women’s singles player in the Open era.
China’s Li, who became Asia’s first grand slam singles champion when she won last year’s French Open, complained she could hardly breathe after coming through her opener.
“It’s not easy,” said Li, who last week reached the final of the Sydney International.
“I’m not used to it. I came down from Sydney, but there it was only like 20 degrees. It was really tough today.”
There was also a win in the first round of the men’s draw for Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun, who came out on top after a five-set battle against South Africa’s Rik de Voest 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
And Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-chen made it through her first round women’s clash, beating Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-4, 6-2.
Japan’s Date-Krumm, the second oldest player to play women’s singles behind Australia’s Beverley Rae, at 44, was well beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou.
But the Japanese player, currently ranked 79th who came out of retirement four years ago, said she had no plans to quit – and could continue on the circuit for several more seasons.
Date-Krumm’s fellow Japanese Ayumi Morita was beaten 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 by 32nd seed Petra Cetkovska despite taking the first set.
There was also defeat for India’s Sania Mirza, beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.