Sharapova, Li Na reach French Open semi-finals

     PARIS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- China's top player Li Na continued her breakthrough journey as she romped¹ into the women's singles semifinal at the French Open by beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-5, 6-2 here on Wednesday.

    Li Na, 29, who finished second at the Australia Open earlier this year, was broken early in both sets, but managed to fight back with her powerful and accurate forehand and backhand baseline strokes.

    "Wow, I can play semi in Roland Garros. I never think about that before," said Li, who had become the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros as she defeated ninth- seeded Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 on Monday.

    "So many people think I'm not so good in clay court, but I think now they should change their minds a little bit."The world No. 7 had become the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals and has the chance to leave more marks for China at the French Open.

    Li's semifinal opponent is Russian ace² Maria Sharapova after the seventh seed thrashed Germany's 15th seed Andrea Petkovic 6-0, 6-3.

    Sharapova leads the head to head record 5-2 but Li won the latest two clashes between them.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 romped   

v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜

参考例句：

• Children romped on the playground. 孩子们在操场上嬉笑玩闹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• John romped home well ahead of all the other runners. 约翰赛马跑时轻而易举地战胜了所有的选手。 来自辞典例句

2 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。