Li defeated during the showers at Roland Garros MyZA

English: 2011 French Open semi final, Li Na (pictured) vs Maria Sharapova. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Former 2011 French Open champion Li Na was defeated by American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Thursday during her second round match.

She was hoping for another successive grand slam final appearance, but unfortunately her hope was washed away by the showers at Roland Garros.

Li won the first four games of the match, but could not prevent Mattek-Sands closing out a 5-7 6-3 6-2 victory on Court One. The sixth seed did take the opening set despite a comeback by her stocky opponent, but fell 4-1 down in the second before the first bout of rain. The pair returned one hour 45 minutes later and in a short spell of action, Li retrieved the break of service to trail 4-3.

When they returned after another lengthy break of 90 minutes, Mattek-Sands took the next two games to level the match and romped through the decider. Li, beaten by Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Australian Open, refused to use the weather delays as an excuse.

“Lose is lose, I cannot find another thing. The weather didn’t change anything – for both of us it was the same,” she told gathered reporters. – CNN