Kim Clijsters stunned Li Na after saving four match points to win their fourth round clash at the Australian Open.
It was a repeat of the 2011 final and it certainly lived up to expectations with Clijsters producing the most remarkable comeback of her career to win 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 and leave the French Open champion in tears.
Clijsters looked down and out after twisting her ankle in the first set and she was on the verge of calling it quits. She opted to play on but the match seemed done and dusted as Li Na cruised to a 6-2 lead in the second set tiebreak. However Clijsters didn't give up and reeled off six points in a row to swing the momentum irreversibly in her direction.
"It (pulling out) definitely crossed my mind at some point, but I knew if I could just try to kind of let the medication sink in or, you know, if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, you know, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it," Clijsters explained.
"(At 6-2 down in the tiebreak) I didn't want to give her anything for free. You know, if she was going to come up with an ace or with a winner, you know, too good, but I didn't want to make the mistake."
"I think she was a little bit, you know, lost or maybe a little bit confused afterwards, and she made two pretty easy mistakes when we changed sides (at 6-6). That made me, you know, believe in it even more in the beginning of that third set to just stick through it from the beginning and try to get, you know, as many breaks as I could."
