Tennis: Li Na's bid to become China's first grand slam singles champion ended in disappointment after she was beaten in three sets by Kim Clijsters in the final of the Australian Open.
Li overcame a nervy start to win the first set but lost her direction midway through the second as she became irritated by a section of the crowd and Clijsters took full advantage to hit back and win 3-6 6-3 6-3 to claim her first major outside of New York.
Li's run to the final in Melbourne has caught the imagination in her homeland and with the match potentially available to 330 million households in China, there was the possibility of it being the most watched tennis match of all time.
And for a set and a half, her enormous following would have enjoyed the spectacle as she dominated a strangely out-of-sorts Clijsters.
But Clijsters, as expected, eventually found a foothold and started to improve. And it prompted a collapse from Li who started to become agitated, complaining about crowd noise and flashbulbs from court-side photographers.
The Belgian edged the second set and then cruised through the decider to claim her fourth grand slam crown.
Li made a horrible start as Clijsters won the first two games to love. The Chinese looked nervous, particularly on serve as she threw in a double fault alongside a couple of elementary errors off the forehand.
And when she did win her first point via a powerful backhand and winning smash, the crowd inside the Rod Laver Arena roared their approval.
She slowly grew into the contest, however, and, having taken Clijsters to deuce on the Belgian's next service game, broke back for 1-2 when the third seed mis-cued a backhand.
That quickly became 2-2 as Li held for the first time with Clijsters' backhand continuing to misfire in the early stages.
Li had to save two break points at 2-3 before holding and then claiming the Clijsters serve although she was aided by a couple of tentative volleys from the Belgian.
Li remained on the front foot by also taking the eighth game, after saving a break point, to go 5-3 ahead.
Surprisingly it was the more experienced Clijsters who was spraying the ball around at the key moments and a forehand winner gave Li the set in 38 minutes.
The second set opened with four successive breaks with neither player seemingly capable of taking the initiative.
Li was still looking the more assertive with Clijsters struggling for rhythm and inspiration.
A hold finally came when Li found her range to make it 3-2 although Clijsters missed two break-point opportunities.
After a lengthy spell of poor tennis, the final came to life in game six when a stunning Clijsters forehand winner was followed by a long rally which ended when Li cut off a driven forehand from mid-court.
Two points later, Clijsters got the hold she desperately needed to make it 3-3.
And her improved form continued when she broke for 4-3, following up some stunning defence with a brilliant backhand winner down the line.
Li was unable to prevent Clijsters from making it 5-3 and the Belgian quickly brought up a set point with a crunching forehand down the line and took it as Li netted a cross-court backhand.
Li was clearly rattled and she played a poor game to open the deciding set.
Clijsters was in total command, cleverly mixing the pace while also stealing into the net when the opportunity arose. Li saved two break points at 0-1 but could not stave off a third although she only had herself to blame after putting a routine backhand volley wide with the court gaping.
Yet Li fought on and she bravely regained a foothold in the match by breaking as Clijsters' rhythm on serve suddenly disappeared.
But the Chinese promptly returned to her profligate ways with a double fault and an awful backhand gifting Clijsters the break back.
Clijsters held for 4-1, and then 5-2 as she closed in on victory.
Li held for 5-3 to force the Belgian to serve it out which she did with consummate ease.