Born in King of Prussia, a small census-designated place in Pennsylvania, Ann Li is now looking increasingly at home in Queens. The 20-year-old upset No. 13 seed Alison Riske in the second round today, making her 6-0, 6-3 win look effortless, especially in the lopsided 27-minute first set. Li now faces former US Open champ Angelique Kerber in the third round.
Li was not necessarily a top prospect, but she did produce some solid results.
Li, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, started playing as a 5-year-old because she was tagging along to her older brothers’ lessons in Philadelphia. As a junior, she ranked as high as 12th in the world, but she reached the finals of the 2017 juniors at Wimbledon, losing to fellow American Claire Liu.
Li didn’t need additional schooling.
Turning down a scholarship for Louisiana State University to play on the pro tour instead, Li made her debut two weeks after the Wimbledon loss and she won a $15,000 tournament in Indiana on the ITF Women’s Circuit.
She's had steady growth.
Li lost her first qualifying match at the US Open in both her rookie year and in 2018, but she made it to the second qualifying last year. She built on that by qualifying for the Australian Open in 2020 and winning her first-round match. Although she lost in the first round at Indian Wells and in the Western & Southern Open, she has outdone herself at the 2020 US Open by advancing to the third round.
The next step is all about her return game.
The immediate future holds playing Kerber, but for Li, the next step is likely improving her return game—before today’s rout, she had been winning just 20 percent of her return games and dialing up her first serve. She was getting it in 68 percent of the time, but winning just 57 percent of those points.
