Tennis star Li Na gave a gutsy performance against the visiting German team yesterday, as she helped China win a Fed Cup World Group Play-off tie and a place in the Fed Cup elite next year for the first time.

	Li Na returns a shot to Germany's Kathrin Woerle during their women's singles match at the Federation Cup World Group 2006 in Beijing ,July 16, 2006. [Reuters]

It was another milestone for Chinese tennis, less than a week after the women's doubles win at at Wimbledon.

China won the tie 4-1 with Li the biggest heroine, winning both her singles matches including a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Kathrin Woerle yesterday that gave the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The win lifts China into the elite group along with traditional powers such as the United States, Russia and Belgium, while former two-time champions Germany are relegated to the second tier of the World Group.

"Playing on home soil is much better than in other countries," said Li, the world No 22, who this year became the first Chinese to break into Wimbledon's quarter-finals. "I felt there were so many supporters behind me."

But Li was still far from a full recovery from the fatigue of her Wimbledon run. She raced into a 3-0 lead in eight minutes with an early break in the second game but committed a bunch of errors to let the gallant Woerle level the match at 3-3.

Li was able to go ahead again, breaking in the 12th game and winning the first set.

But Woerle's powerful and varied serves continued to work in the second set, and she went on to break Li in the fifth game en route to a 5-3 lead. However a confident Li then proved why she was able to make the Wimbledon quarter-finals, saving two set points and dominating the last two games to win the second set by the same 7-5 score line.

Li punched her fist to celebrate China's first-ever place in the elite group to the frenzied cheers of local supporters.

"The way the German girl played was a little strange to me," said Li. "I wasn't as focused as I was yesterday."

Li proved superior at playing aggressive tennis, as she blasted 31 winners against Woerle's 9. But it was her champion-class confidence that impressed her opponent most.

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