Li Na set for 3rd WTA Championships run

(L-R) Sara Errani of Italy, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic, Serena Williams of USA, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Li Na of China, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, and Angelique Kerber of Germany pose with the Billie Jean King trophy for the official photo of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships-Istanbul. [Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for WTA]

The chance of making Li Na's first semi-final appearance at the WTA Championships worked out to be decent.

The 4th seeded Chinese tennis ace, with Vitoria Azarenka (No.2), Sara Errani (No.6), Jelena Jankovic (No.7) in the white group, will vie for two semi-final berths in the round-robin stage.

Defending champions Serena Williams (No.1), Agnieszka Radwanska (NO.3), Petra Kvitova (No.5) and Angelique Kerber (NO.8) were assigned to the red group at the draw ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday night.

"In the WTA Championships, no one ever has an easy draw. You have to be ready when you come to the court. It's a big challenge," said Li.

This year marks Li's third WTA Championships participation in a row in Istanbul, Turkey. She didn't make it to the semi-finals for the last two years, finishing 1-2 in her group both times.

But at least statistics show in Li's favor this time. In 2013, she split her two encounters with Jankovic and conceded the Australian Open title to Azarenka and an ankle injury in a three-set thriller. Despite having not played Errani this season, Li holds a 5-0 all-time winning record against the Italian.

Even Li is approbatory of her consistency this year. The 2013 Australian Open runner-up reached quarter-final at Wimbledon and cruised to the US Open semi-final before losing to Serena Williams. And she bagged her 7th career singles title at inaugural WTA event in Shenzhen in January.

"I think this is my best year. So I am really looking forward (to the WTA Championships) and also happy to be back to Istanbul again," she said.

No doubt a breakthrough at the season-ending clash of elites will be icing on the cake.