China's Li Na cruises to Shenzhen quarters

Chinese tennis star Li Na cruised through to the quarter-finals of the Shenzhen Open on Wednesday with a straight sets victory over American Julia Cohen. The 2011 French Open singles winner and top seed took one hour and 34 minutes to defeat Cohen 6-3, 6-4. The Chinese number one will face eighth seed Bojana Jovanovski, from Serbia, in the next round. Li's compatriot Zhou Yimiao also powered through to the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 victory over Chang Kai-Chen from Taiwan. She will face Romania's Monica Niculescu, who disposed of British teenager Laura Robson in their second-round match on Tuesday. The Shenzhen Open -- carrying total prize money of $500,000 -- is being played for the first time as tennis expands in China on the back of Li's huge popularity. From : AFP