Li Na reaches last 16 in French Open

PARIS: Defending champion Li Na, the seventh seed, battled back to defeat America's Christina McHale 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The 30-year-old Li had to draw upon her 10-year age gap to prevail over the 36th-ranked American, who had fallen in the first round in 2010 and 2011.

The seventh-seeded Li will face Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova for a place in the quarter-finals.

Italian 14th seed Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 champion and runner-up to Li last year, lost 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 to America's Varvara Lepchenko, the world number 63, who has reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Schiavone, the oldest player left in the tournament at 31, will lose her place in the world top 20 as a result of her defeat.

Also going out was former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, the ninth seed, who lost to 23rd seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.

Kanepi, a quarter-finalist in 2008, needed five match points to seal the win and will face Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus who put out German 25th seed Julia Goerges 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-2.

Uzbekistan-born Lepchenko, who had defeated 19th seed Jelena Jankovic in the second round, squandered the opportunity to serve for the match in the ninth game of the decider, but held her nerve in the 14th.

It was the 26-year-old's second successive win over Schiavone, having also won in three sets in the second round of the Madrid claycourt tournament in May.

The 22-year-old Wimbledon champion reached the last 16 for the third time but she did it the hard way, serving up eight double faults and committing 37 unforced errors in her 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over Russian world number 109 Nina Bratchikova.

She was only saved by her fierce, flatly hit groundstrokes which left the Portugal-based Bratchikova gasping.

Also making the last 16 was Shvedova, a quarter-finalist in 2010, who eased past Spain's Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-4, 7-5. (AFP)