Li Na eyes World No1 ranking after winning Australian Open title

Fourth seed and last year’s runner up at the Australian Open Li Na, who won her second Grand Slam title and first Australian Open title by beating 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova, has said she was ready to work hard to become World No.1.

The Chinese star will return to third in the rankings when they are released on Monday, just 11 points behind second-placed Victoria Azarenka.

Li’s third ranking is the highest achieved by an Asian player and she acknowledged she now had a chance of supplanting American great Serena Williams, winner of 17 Grand Slam titles, as world number one, Sport24 reports.

The 31-year-old added everyone has a chance to reach the top ranking, but she had a better opportunity than most after finally winning the Australian title.

The fourth seed said many people underestimated how hard it was to win a Grand Slam.