GUANGZHOU, China - After six runner-up finishes, China hopes to produce its first-ever WTA Tour singles champion Sunday as 22-year-old qualifier Li Na contests the Guangzhou International Women's Open final against Slovak Martina Sucha. In Saturday's semifinals of the inaugural $170,000 event, Li Na defeated compatriot Li Ting, 63 63 in 65 minutes, the first time two Chinese women had reached the singles semifinals of a WTA Tour event. Sucha advanced to her first career final with a 62 75 win over first-time semifinalist, 18-year-old Czech Barbora Strycova in one hour, 36 minutes. Li has been in devastating form this year, winning her first 28 matches of the year on the ITF Women's Circuit. Last week in Beijing, having qualified for the main draw, she held two match points on new US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round before falling in a third-set tie-break. "I'm very happy and proud to have reached my first WTA Tour final and to have it happen in my home country," said a jubilant Li. "I've played well this week and look forward to tomorrow. I won a national event in Guangzhou a few years ago, so this is a lucky city for me!" Li is aiming to become the third qualifier in 2004 to win a Tour singles title. Victory over Sucha on Sunday - whom she has never played - would make her the seventh first-time champion this season. Most importantly for Li would be winning her country's first WTA Tour singles title. On six previous occasions, Chinese women have reached Tour finals, only to fall at the last hurdle. Li Fang, China's most successful player on the WTA Tour, reached a career-high ranking of No.36 in 1998. She finished runner-up at three Tour events - 1995 Hobart (AUS), 1998 Makarska (CRO) and Pattaya City (THA). Yi Jing-Qian (1995 Surabaya-INA and Pattaya City-THA) and Chen Li Ling (1996 Beijing-CHN) were the other two women to have previously reached WTA Tour singles finals. Sucha is through to her third career final and second of 2004 after winning 2002 Hobart and falling to Jelena Jankovic in the Budapest championship match in May. "It was a difficult match under difficult conditions," said Sucha of her semifinal match. "All week it has been hot and humid and today it was dry and very windy. I think that made it hard for both of us to play well. The key of the match was to keep focus and I'm very happy I won." Based on rankings, the 23-year-old Sucha may go into the final as a favorite, but she's well aware of the good form her opponent is in. "Tomorrow will be an open match," said of Sunday's final. "Li Na is playing very good tennis this tournament and she is going to be tough. I hope I can play well and win tomorrow." The doubles title is guaranteed to be won by a home team, as Yang Shu-Jing and Yu Ying take on No.2 seeds and Olympic gold medallists Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian in the final. The first and most recent all-Chinese WTA Tour doubles final took place in Vienna in June 2003, when Li and Sun defeated Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, 63 64. --

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