Li Ting (tennis, born 1980)

Li Ting
李婷
Country (sports)	China
Residence	Hubei
Born	5 January 1980 (age 44); Wuhan, Hubei
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1996
Retired	2007
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$383,259
Singles
Career record	139–103
Career titles	0 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 136 (28 February 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2005, 2006)
French Open	Q2 (2006)
Wimbledon	Q1 (2004, 2006)
US Open	Q1 (2005, 2006)
Doubles
Career record	274–109
Career titles	9 WTA, 26 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 19 (4 October 2004)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2004, 2005, 2006)
French Open	QF (2005)
Wimbledon	1R (2004, 2006)
US Open	3R (2005)
Medal record
Olympic Games

Li Ting (Chinese: 李婷; pinyin: Lǐ Tíng; born 5 January 1980) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in women's doubles alongside Sun Tiantian.

Education

She graduated from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2002.

Career

As a doubles player, Li has enjoyed great success, winning 26 ITF titles and a further seven WTA titles by March 2006.

She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, defeating Spain to win a gold medal in the women's tennis doubles along with her partner Sun Tiantian.

As a singles player, Li enjoyed limited success in ITF events until June 2000, when she qualified for a WTA tournament at Tashkent, then defeated Alina Jidkova of Russia in the first round of the main draw, before bowing out in Round Two. As a wildcard entrant to the WTA event at Shanghai that September, she lost in three sets to Tara Snyder in the first round. Without further success for the rest of the year, she ended world-ranked 325, beating her previous personal best of 347 at the end of 1998.

A year of indifferent results at lowly ITF level followed in 2001, but in September she came through qualifying with three straight wins to reach Shanghai again, beating countrywoman Liu Nannan in the final round, only to lose to Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy in the main draw. But this achievement was not enough to prevent her world ranking from dropping to 536 by the year's end.

2002 was a poorer year still for Li Ting in singles, as she failed to qualify for Shanghai and won only one match in just four ITF tournaments entered, leading her year-end ranking to slump to 837.

In 2003, she audaciously attempted to buck this trend by boldly entering qualifying for several WTA Tour events while shunning the ITF circuit altogether, and managed to win her first round qualifying ties at Hyderabad, Bali and Shanghai, but failed to progress further until the Japan Open in late September, for which she qualified with wins over Ivana Abramović and Yan Zi, before being easily beaten by Shinobu Asagoe of Japan in the main draw first round. Frustrated with her lack of progress at WTA level, she retreated into ITF territory, and met with some success at the $50,000 Paducah tournament in October, where she gained main draw entry as a lucky loser in qualifying, then reached the quarter-final before losing to Zheng Jie in three sets. Following this result, she was awarded wild-cards into two further $50,000 tournaments, but won just one match at the second. Still, she had pulled her world ranking back up inside the top 500, to No. 436.

In 2004, as if from nowhere, Li Ting's WTA career took off. She qualified for Doha with wins over Shikha Uberoi and future stars Mara Santangelo and Maret Ani, then defeated Els Callens in the main draw first round before losing in straight sets to Jennifer Capriati despite forcing a tie-break in the first set. In May, she proved this superb performance was no accident by qualifying for her second successive WTA tournament, this time defeating Martina Müller, Mervana Jugić-Salkić and Michaela Paštiková, all very capable top-150 players, in straight sets, then stunned Iveta Benešová 6–4, 6–1 in the main draw first round before being downed in three sets by Jelena Kostanić in Round 2. She competed little over the summer, but entered qualifying for Beijing in September, beating Martina Suchá in the first round before losing to her on-form countrywoman Li Na. At Guangzhou, she was awarded a wildcard to the main draw, and proved she deserved it by advancing to the semi-final with easy straight-sets victories over Anikó Kapros, Nicole Pratt and (most impressively of all) Peng Shuai, only to lose again to her former long-time doubles partner (and the eventual tournament champion) Li Na. In October, she entered the first $50k Shenzhen tournament, and again impressed in reaching the quarter-finals after a first-round win over Yan Zi, before losing two matches later to Sun Tiantian. Li Ting ended the year in the top 400 for the first time since 2000, and in the top 300 for the first time in her career, world-ranked 168, after a vastly improved season.

January 2005 saw Li Ting qualify for her first Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, with notable wins over Laura Pous Tió and Sandra Kloesel; and she took a set from Marta Domachowska of Poland in the main draw first round but lost the match. In February, she won another three back-to-back matches to qualify for Hyderabad, but then lost to upcoming starlet Jarmila Gajdošová in the first round of the tournament proper. At Doha, she reached the final round of qualifying with wins over Zheng Jie and Anca Barna, then lost to Roberta Vinci. At Dubai, she took Maria Kirilenko to three sets, two of them tie-breaks, in an unfortunate first-round qualifying draw which she ultimately lost. But by the end of February she had improved her world-ranking to a career-best 136.

Unfortunately for Li Ting, her results at WTA events then took a downward turn for the next six months. Although she battled through to win a $50k event at Beijing in June, defeating Yan Zi surprisingly comfortably in the final, this career-best tournament victory was a blip on the radar of her disappointing summer results at WTA tournaments. In September, however, she came close to qualifying for Beijing, beating Martina Müller before losing to Emma Laine in three sets. Then at Guangzhou, she reached the quarterfinal with excellent wins over Vera Zvonareva and Alina Jidkova, then very nearly reached the semifinal for the second successive year, as she pushed eventual finalist Nuria Llagostera Vives all the way before finally losing their joust 6–3, 4–6, 6–7. But after this, she did not play again for the rest of the year, and ended it ranked 177th, down almost forty places on her peak.

2006 began promisingly enough for Li Ting, as she qualified for January's Australian Open for the second successive year, only to lose this time to the inspired young Russian star Elena Vesnina. She also impressed in qualifying for Doha, Qatar in February, with wins over Yan Zi and Tatiana Poutchek; but Maria Kirilenko, now ranked in the world top 30, once again proved the more capable player as they met in the first round of the main draw, defeating Li Ting in straight sets. Her ranking had slipped to 209 by the end of the month; but she has proven that she is capable of competing with players of top 100 calibre, and provided that she herself has the will to persist, tennis supporters can confidently expect to see plenty more fireworks from this talented 26-year-old doubles specialist in singles events before she calls time on her career.

In 2007, Li stopped partnering with fellow countrywomen Sun Tiantian, to make room for a new Chinese doubles player, Sun Shengnan was paired with Sun Tiantian, according to the 2007 Australian Open website.

Olympic finals

Doubles: 1 (gold medal)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Gold	2004	Athens	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano	6–3, 6–3

WTA career finals

Doubles: 14 (10 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0/0)
Olympic Games (1/0)
Tier I (0/0)
Tier II (0/1)
Tier III (4/0)
Tier IV (5/3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	June 18, 2000	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	Hard	Li Na	Iroda Tulyaganova Anna Zaporozhanova	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	2.	14 June 2003	Austrian Open, Austria	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	12 October 2003	Tashkent Open, Uzbekistan	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yuliya Beygelzimer Tatiana Poutchek	3–6, 6–7^(0–7)
Winner	3.	2 November 2003	Bell Challenge, Canada	Hard(i)	Sun Tiantian	Els Callens Meilen Tu	6–3, 6–3
Winner	4.	9 November 2003	Pattaya Open, Thailand	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Wynne Prakusya Angelique Widjaja	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	22 February 2004	Bangalore Open, India	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Liezel Huber Sania Mirza	6–7^(1–7), 4–6
Winner	5.	22 August 2004	Olympic Games	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Conchita Martínez Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–3, 6–3
Winner	6.	3 October 2004	Guangzhou Open, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yang Shujing Yu Ying	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	12 February 2005	Bangalore Open, India	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	4–6, 1–6
Winner	7.	1 May 2005	Estoril Open, Portugal	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Michaëlla Krajicek Henrieta Nagyová	6–3, 6–1
Winner	8.	12 February 2006	Pattaya Open, Thailand	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	3–6, 6–1, 7–6^(7–5)
Runner-up	4.	4 March 2006	Doha Open, Qatar	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama	4–6, 4–6
Winner	9.	7 May 2006	Estoril Open, Portugal	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Gisela Dulko María Sánchez Lorenzo	6–2, 6–2
Winner	10.	1 October 2006	Guangzhou Open, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Vania King Jelena Kostanić Tošić	6–4, 2–6, 7–5

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 3 (3–0)

$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	19 September 1999	Ibaraki, Japan	Hard	Kate Warne-Holland	6–4, 2–6, 6-1
Winner	2.	26 September 1999	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Orawan Wongkamalasai	6–0, 3–6, 6-0
Winner	3.	12 June 2005	Beijing, China	Hard	Yan Zi	6–1, 6-3

Doubles: 37 (26–11)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	10 November 1997	Manila, Philippines	Hard	Ding Ding	Khoo Chin-bee Weng Tzu-ting	7–5, 6–3
Winner	2.	2 March 1998	New Delhi, India	Hard	Ding Ding	Motoe Uchida Qin Yang	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	10 May 1998	Seoul, South Korea	Clay	Ding Ding	Cho Yoon-jeong Park Sung-hee	1–6, 6–3, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	7 June 1998	Little Rock, United States	Hard	Li Li	Keiko Ishida Keiko Nagatomi	5–7, 1–6
Winner	5.	13 June 1999	Shenzhen, China	Hard	Li Na	Liza Andriyani Irawati Iskandar	6–1, 6–3
Winner	6.	21 June 1999	Shenzhen, China	Hard	Li Na	Chung Yang-jin Lee Eun-jeong	6–3, 6–1
Winner	7.	15 August 1999	Rebecq, Belgium	Clay	Li Na	Natasha Galouza Maaike Koutstaal	6–1, 6–4
Winner	8.	22 August 1999	Koksijde, Belgium	Clay	Li Na	Rewa Hudson Shelley Stephens	6–3, 6–2
Winner	9.	29 August 1999	Westende, Belgium	Clay	Li Na	Natasha Galouza Anouk Sterk	7–6⁽⁵⁾, 6–2
Winner	10.	19 September 1999	Ibaraki, Japan	Clay	Li Na	Mareze Joubert Kate Warne-Holland	7–6⁽⁴⁾, 6–3
Winner	11.	26 September 1999	Tokyo, Japan	Clay	Li Na	Maki Arai Kumiko Iijima	6–2, 6–1
Winner	12.	12 December 1999	Manila, Philippines	Hard	Li Na	Haruka Inoue Maiko Inoue	6–3, 6–2
Winner	13.	10 January 2000	Boca Raton, United States	Hard	Maiko Inoue	Olga Blahotová Gabriela Chmelinová	4–6, 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	14.	17 January 2000	Boca Raton, United States	Hard	Li Na	Sandra Cacic Lindsay Lee-Waters	4–6, 5–7
Winner	15.	30 January 2000	Hallandale, United States	Hard	Li Na	Jean Okada Hana Šromová	6–3, 7–5
Winner	16.	28 February 2000	Chengdu City, China	Hard	Li Na	Joana Cortez Katalin Marosi	6–1, 6–3
Winner	17.	26 March 2000	Nanjing, China	Hard	Li Na	Chae Kyung-yee Ryoko Takemura	7–6⁽⁴⁾, 6–1
Winner	18.	2 April 2000	Nanjing, China	Hard	Li Na	Ding Ding Lin Ya-ming	6–1, 7–6
Winner	19.	23 April 2000	Dalian, China	Hard	Li Na	Chang Kyung-mi Satoko Kurioka	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	20.	14 May 2000	Seoul, South Korea	Clay	Li Na	Shinobu Asagoe Saori Obata	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	21.	28 May 2000	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Hard	Li Na	Cho Yoon-jeong Saori Obata	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	22.	4 June 2000	Shenzhen, China	Hard	Li Na	Kim Eun-ha Saori Obata	1–6, 3–6
Winner	23.	2 July 2000	Orbetello, Italy	Clay	Li Na	Joana Cortez Miriam D'Agostini	6–3, 7–6⁽³⁾
Runner-up	23.	4 June 2001	Shenzhen, China	Hard	Lui-Li Shen	Liu Nannan Peng Shuai	4–6, 1-6
Winner	24.	29 July 2001	Guangzhou, China	Hard	Tong Ka-po	Chen Yan Sun Tiantian	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	25.	21 April 2002	Cagliari, Italy	Clay	Li Na	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	4–6, 0–6
Winner	26.	11 August 2002	Beijing, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	7–5, 6-3
Winner	27.	23 February 2003	Columbus, United States	Hard (i)	Sun Tiantian	Bruna Colósio Joana Cortez	6–3, 6–1
Winner	28.	2 March 2003	Saint Paul, United States	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Teryn Ashley Abigail Spears	6–3, 6-1
Winner	29.	30 March 2003	Atlanta, United States	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Leanne Baker Francesca Lubiani	4–6, 6–4, 6-4
Runner-up	30.	16 June 2003	Gorizia, Italy	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6-7⁽⁵⁾, 6–1, 4-6
Winner	31.	23 June 2003	Fontanafredda, Italy	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Maria Geznenge Dragana Zarić	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	32.	30 June 2003	Orbetello, Italy	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	2–6, 5-7
Winner	33.	13 July 2003	Modena, Italy	Clay	Sun Tiantian	Rika Fujiwara Trudi Musgrave	3–6, 7–5, 7–5
Winner	34.	30 November 2003	Changsha, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–4, 6-2
Winner	35.	7 December 2003	Shenzhen, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	6–3, 3–6, 6-4
Runner-up	36.	6 June 2005	Beijing, China	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Yan Zi Zheng Jie	1–6, 5-7
Winner	37.	16 August 2005	Bronx, United States	Hard	Sun Tiantian	Tatiana Poutchek Anastasiya Yakimova	2–6, 6–2, 6–4