Li Na has secured her place in the next round of the Australian Open with a straight-sets victory against teenager Belinda Bencic.
Bencic, 16, who beat Kimiko Date-Krumm in round one, was unable to reproduce the same level of tennis, with Li's experience and skill proving to be too much.
The fourth seed started with serve and held, before breaking Bencic at the earliest opportunity. This pattern continued throughout the set, and Li came out on top in a four-shot rally to confirm her dominance with a 6-0 first set win.
However, Bencic showed her fighting spirit and held her serve, before breaking back to take a 2-1 lead in the second. Li then broke back, but so did Bencic as the set reached levels not seen in the first.
Li fought back and soon it was a tie-break. Despite hitting hard to get to 5-4 ahead, Bencic was unable to see out the set and Li won a nine-shot rally to secure victory 6-0 7-6.
Gary Peters
