Robson Continues Run, Downs 9th Seed Li in 3 Sets

The teenage sensation who ended Kim Clijster’s singles career continued her run by defeating  the 9th seed and former French Open champion Li Na in 3 sets.  Laura Robson of the UK had never made it past the 2nd round in a grand slam tournament until two days ago and with her win today she has advanced into the US Open 3rd round.

Picking up where she left off with Clijsters, the teenager showed great poise against the veterage Li whose 2012 season has been lukewarm in comparison to last year where she made it to the final of the Australian Open and took home the trophy at Roland Garros.  Her best run at Flushing Meadows came in 2009 when she made it to the QF round, but history was not repeating itself this time around.

Robson, a lefty, was unrelenting in her match play.  Never giving her opponent a chance to breathe, she forced an incredible 17 breakpoint opportunities for herself and converted on 6 of them.  After a slow start and losing the first set, Li cranked up the winners in the second set and was able to come away with the set at 7-5 following a 63-minute battle.  However, the Chinese no. 1 was unable to capitalize on her momentum and the underdog Robson stunned by running away with the third set 6-2.

Li is the second highest seed to fall so far in the tournament which has seen most of the seeded players advance without too much contention.  Robson will face 7th seed Samantha Stosur in the 4th round.