No 2 seed Li Na of China today became the biggest casualty so far of the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland, beaten in straight sets by Estonian Kaia Kanepi.
Li, the world No 15, went down 6-1 6-3 in just 66 minutes to an opponent ranked 43 places below
her.
The pair had met once before, at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, with Li winning in three sets on the way to reaching the semifinals.
But it was largely one-way traffic this afternoon and no one seemed more surprised than Li, who rated Kanepi's weight of shot as the decisive factor.
"Everyone can see she had a huge serve and on her service game I could do nothing," she said.
"Also she hit so hard, I couldn't control the point."
Li's next event is Sydney next week, but she won't be making a quick exit from New Zealand, saying she planned to stay a couple of days to have a look around.
Li is the second seed to fall, after eighth-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues was beaten by Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2 6-3 last night.
- NZPA
