Li loving life despite weight of expectations

New York: China`s Li Na is loving her tennis life, despite elevated expectations and an inevitable smattering of nay-sayers who still think her two Grand Slam titles are a fluke.

"Of course I always hear a lot," the world number two said Monday after booking her fourth-round berth at the Indian Wells hardcourt tournament with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Czech Karolina Pliskova. "So many people say `Oh, she`s lucky.` After I won the French, after I won in Australia, they say `Oh, she`s lucky, she cannot win anymore, blah, blah, blah. "I say, that`s OK, doesn`t matter. I already have two (Grand Slams) in my pocket. Nobody can take it. I still love tennis life, I don`t care what other people say." If the critics don`t get to her, Li admitted that she is having to learn how to handle herself now that she`s coming into big tournaments as a favorite. The world number two is the top seed at Indian Wells for the first time, and admitted it was a different feeling. "I try to feel the same, but it is different. Before if I came to a tournament maybe I was like number six or number seven seed. Now it`s high attention, everyone is focused (on me)." So far she has thrived in the spotlight in the California desert, although she has yet to headline a night session. Li has been the first match on stadium court in both of her matches here, and while she said she`s not a morning person she enjoys the convenience of knowing she won`t have to wait for another match to finish to go on. She joked that the early wake-up call contributed to a bevy of early double faults. She overcame nine of them in the match en route to the victory over the 67th-ranked Pliskova. It was something she said she would work on before her next match, when she will take on Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, a 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 6-0 winner over 21st-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.