Li revs up to face Kvitova in Stuttgart

STUTTGART, Germany (AFP) –

China’s Li Na returns the ball to Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in their match of the WTA Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, on April 25, 2013. Li won 6-1, 6-2.

China’s Li Na has admitted she has one eye on a brand new sports car, the winner’s prize at Stuttgart’s WTA tournament, as she prepares to face Petra Kvitova in Friday’s quarter-finals.

Second-seed Li, who reached January’s Australian Open final, breezed through Thursday’s second-round match in 74 minutes to see off Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets in her first match of the clay-court season.

With top-seed Maria Sharapova on the other side of the draw for the clay tournament, which serves as French Open warm-up, Li faces Kvitova, who beat Germany’s Julia Goerges 2-6, 7-6(7/4), 6-2 in her second round match.

“I have a lot of room in my garage for a new car and it’s a pretty nice car,” joked Li, with a brand-new Porsche sports car parked at the side of the court, ready for the winner of Sunday’s final to drive away.

“It’s always tough when you change surface, so I’m excited to win my first match on clay for the season.

“Mirjana plays flat, so I had to prepare for that.

“I thought it would be a tough match because she has a lot of experience.

“I was happy I could play more aggressive and had the right game plan to win.”

Third-seed Angelique Kerber, ranked sixth in the world, also had no problems as she blasted past Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.

Former world number-one Ana Ivanovic, who earlier beat Russia’s Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-3 in her second round game, will face the winner of Sharapova’s opening match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.