[Dorien.]

Well done Monica

[Dorien.]

She won against Na 'error machine' Li. 64 60

[Curcubeu]

An abolutely delightful performance with a lot of variety Li simply couldn't dela with!

All those pressed people on GM are of course only dissing Li instead of wondering why she hit so many errors...

I'm so looking forward to Monica in this tournament, but also in her further career upsetting further famous names and causing more astonishment among the fans!

Her draw isn't that bad!

[Shvedbarilescu]

NID.

Na Li will be having nightmares about that match and will be praying never to see Monica's name near her's in a drawsheet ever again.

So another good tournament for Monica. Hopefully now Monica can make it a great tournament by capitalizing on this win and getting to the final 16.

It won't be easy though. Monica's next opponent will almost certainly be Chanelle Scheepers who just won a tournament a week ago and is in great form. Have to say, Scheepers's game is a lot like Angelique Kerber's and Kerber played a very smart match against Monica at the US Open. So I expect this one to be a lot tougher that the Na Li match. If Monica plays at the top of her game she can win but I expect this to be a close and pretty gruelling match for both players. Fingers tightly crossed for Monica.

Go for it Monica

[Curcubeu]

Monica Niculescu: "Sunt puţin surprinsă că am învins-o pe Na Li, dar am jucat bine"

Jucătoarea de tenis Monica Niculescu a declarat, duminică, după ce a reuşit să o elimine pe Na Li, numărul 4 mondial, în primul tur la Openul Chinei de la Beijing, că nu se aştepta la un asemenea succes şi a apreciat că a făcut cel mai bun meci al carierei, transmite Reuters.

Niculescu, în vârstă d 24 de ani, a cerut scuze fanilor chinezi pe care i-a supărat după ce a învins-o pe Na Li.

"Sunt puţin surprinsă că am învins-o, dar cred că am jucat bine. Joci un meci şi trebuie să fie un câştigător şi un învins. De data asta Na Li a pierdut şi îmi pare rău. Dar cred că am jucat mai bine. Am câştigat. Sunt sigură că fanii ei s-au bucurat când a câştigat la Roland Garros", a declarat Monica Niculescu.

La meciul disputat la Beijing au asistat 15.000 de persoane, care şi-au manifestat zgomotos sprijinul pentru Na Li.

"Mi-am pierdut încrederea. Pe teren nu ştiam ce să fac. Mi-a fost greu să câştig chiar şi un punct, i-am cerut antrenorului (n.r. - soţul lui Na Li, Jiang Shan) să-mi spună ce să fac. Ştiu că mi-a spus ceva bine, dar nu am fost în stare să pun în aplicare. Acesta este cel mai mare turneu din China. Mi-am dorit mai mult. Dar uneori pun prea multă presiune pe mine şi nu doar eu, ci este presiune şi din afară. Acum trebuie să mă pregătesc pentru sezonul viitor", a declarat Na Li.

Monica Niculescu: "I'm a little surprised that I defeated Li Na, but I played well"

Tennis player Monica Niculescu said Sunday, after she managed to eliminate Na Li, world number four in the first round at China Open in Beijing, she did not expect such a success, but played the best match of her career, Reuters.

Niculescu, aged 24 years, apologized to the angry Chinese fans after she defeated Li Na.

"I'm a little surprised that I won it, but I think I played well. You play a match and there will be a winner and a loser. This time Li Na lost and I'm sorry. But I think I played better. I won. I'm sure her fans were happy when she won at Roland Garros, "said Monica Niculescu.

The match played in Beijing was attended by 15,000 people, who loudly expressed their support for Na Li.

"I lost confidence. On the field I did not know what to do. I found it difficult to gain even a point, I asked coach (No - Na Li's husband, Jiang Shan) to tell me what to do . I know he said something good, but I was not able to implement. This is the biggest tournament in China. I wanted more. But sometimes there is put too much pressure on me and not just from my side, but pressure from outside. Now I must prepare for next season, "said Li Na.


Keep going Nics!

Scheepers even lost a set to Hu, so I guess Monica can do something in her current form!

[Curcubeu]

First match on Moon Court tomorrow (only non streamed singles match)

Good luck!

[Shvedbarilescu]

Shame the match wont be streamed.

I'm looking forward to this match but it really is going to be a tough one. Scheepers is a much tougher match-up for Monica than Na Li was, and she is in the form of her life. In her last 18 matches she is 15-3, and her only losses were to Schiavone (57 76 63), Kerber (46 62 75) and Kvitova (76 63), so even in her three losses it was very close.

Monica and Scheepers did player earlier this year on clay and Scheepers won in a very very long match in a final set tiebreak. As I recall Monica had several match points and it could have gone either way. But that was clay and both players are playing substantially better than they were at that time so....

Obviously this is a match Monica can win, but it sure isn't going to be easy. I expect this to be a long one and realistically this one too could go either way....

[Curcubeu]

I still don't know if i want to watch that on livescores, this is much worse for me than watching a tennis match itself...

And the last match they played Monica had 4 matches in a row from quarterfinal and semi in Estoril to the qualifying matches there, so the result is really not that significant....

Please, win girl! The draw is just too god for not taking advantage of!

[Shvedbarilescu]

Originally Posted by Curcubeu

I still don't know if i want to watch that on livescores, this is much worse for me than watching a tennis match itself...

And the last match they played Monica had 4 matches in a row from quarterfinal and semi in Estoril to the qualifying matches there, so the result is really not that significant....

Please, win girl! The draw is just too god for not taking advantage of!

That's true, the last match Monica had played an awful lot of tennis and must have been completely knackered. But even so, this Scheepers girl is playing very well and it's not a match I feel very confident about. Monica is going to have to be at her best for sure. But yeah, if Monica can get past this match the draw does open up really nicely. This would be a great match to win.

[Curcubeu]

Originally Posted by Shvedbarilescu

So I expect this one to be a lot tougher that the Na Li match. If Monica plays at the top of her game she can win but I expect this to be a close and pretty gruelling match for both players.

I guess we both still underestimated her!

Monica trashed "Coca Cola" Scheepers 6-2 6-1

And people on GM still can't understand how her game is working!
Stay pressed haters!

Next one is Razzano for a place in the quarterfinal!
Razzano leads the H2H by 1-0 from Auckland last year, on the other hand Monica was ranked #103 at that time while Virginie was still ranked in Top 20, so it's also not a very significant result!

I hope Monica will prevail!

[Shvedbarilescu]

Originally Posted by Curcubeu

I guess we both still underestimated her!

Monica trashed "Coca Cola" Scheepers 6-2 6-1

And people on GM still can't understand how her game is working!
Stay pressed haters!

Next one is Razzano for a place in the quarterfinal!
Razzano leads the H2H by 1-0 from Auckland last year, on the other hand Monica was ranked #103 at that time while Virginie was still ranked in Top 20, so it's also not a very significant result!

I hope Monica will prevail!

I underestimated her for sure, there is no way I thought Monica would destroy Scheepers like that. I really thought Scheepers was going to make it very difficult for Monica. But she totally breezed through the match. That really must have been truely a remarkable performance. No question about it, Monica is playing the best tennis of her life and if she keeps this level going next year....well....it is exciting to think about what could happen.

After that this match, I can't honestly see her losing to Razzano. Quarterfinals here we come.

[grs]

Originally Posted by Curcubeu

And people on GM still can't understand how her game is working!
Stay pressed haters!

Haters? Most of them are the ones who like the players with unidimensional games, so called ballbashers on this forum but I have for them a much appropriate term in Romanian - "batatoare de covoare" ( hard to translate in English - someone who beat the carpet for clean it of dust )

[Six Feet Under]

Razzano is tricky, don't underestimate her.
Nonetheless. YAY

[Curcubeu]

It's Razzano's best tournaments for ages and she benifited from 2 nice chokes followed by brainfarts from Dushevina and Vinci. Apart from that her latest results were utter crap such as losing to Ivanova in a clay ITF in France...

I think that Razzano could have some problems with Monica's game, but most important for me is that the match will be streamed!

[Dorien.]

Well done Monica It's a great tournament for her already. It would be more great if she take her chances now and win this next match too.