Veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm continues to roll back the years as she beat top seed Li Na at the Tournament of Champions in Bali.
Japanese veteran to meet Ivanovic after continuing comeback
Veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm continues to roll back the years as she beat top seed Li Na at the Tournament of Champions in Bali.
The 40-year-old beat Li 6-4 3-6 6-4 to continue her amazing form after coming back to tennis following a lengthy retirement of over a decade.
Date-Krumm beat Maria Sharapova in Tokyo in September and last month she became the oldest singles finalist in history as she went all the way at the Japan Open.
With her comeback containing a number of lengthy matches, Date-Krumm's stamina has astounded on-lookers, and she says a healthy lifestyle during her retirement has helped her no end.
"It's a miracle," she said after beating 28-year-old Li to reach the semi-finals. "I'm surprised they are not as fit as me. I don't like to limit myself so I always push myself very hard.
Intensity
"Sometimes my husband says that I should give up otherwise I'll get a big injury. But I don't want to lose. I hate to lose. I don't like to retire, even if I get an injury.
"When I was young I ate healthy food, not so much junk food. I didn't drink, for example, Coca Cola, no Sprite. My mother said it was too much sugar. At that time water wasn't popular in Japan so I drank only tea and I didn't eat so many fat things.
"Although everybody is doing many exercises and every day going to the gym more than me, I think Asians have a lucky body. The DNA is different, and especially my body is different, I think.
"Also I prepared for the London marathon. I ran it in 2004 in three hours, 27 minutes and 47 seconds! So now I have a lot of stamina."
Date-Krumm will now face former world number one Ana Ivanovic, after she continued her own resurgence by beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova whilst losing just one game.
Ivanovic strolled to victory against the Russian third seed with her 6-0 6-1 win taking just 56 minutes.
"It was an almost perfect performance," she said. "I really felt good out there. I thought I really served well and played aggressive and was moving well, so there wasn't much wrong today.
"I feel the things I've been working on, I can see them working now in the matches and that makes a big difference when you have pressure and important points."
