20130124 China Daily
Li Na beats Sharapova to reach Australian Open final
Li Na sent Maria Sharapova crashing out of the Australian Open with a 6-2 6-2 thrashing in searing heat to advance to her second Melbourne Park final.
In-form Sharapova had conceded only nine games leading into the match but was picked apart by sixth seed Li, who attacked the Russian's serve and overpowered her with a barrage of power hitting from the baseline.
Li, who lost to Kim Clijsters in the 2011 final, will play Victoria Azarenka or Sloane Stephens for her second Grand Slam title.
\hour and 33 minutes. \final.\
Questions over Li's mental strength have dogged her throughout her career but she was composure personified on Thursday, weathering a fierce challenge on her serve in the second set and coolly closing the semifinal out on the second match-point when Sharapova found the net.
Brimming with confidence, the Chinese late-bloomer will be hard to beat in the final at Melbourne Park, where she has consistently played some of her best Grand Slam tennis. \dictating the play,\final).\
2011 French Open champion Li has become known for clawing her way back into matches after allowing opponents a headstart but the 30-year-old Chinese was on the offensive from the start.
Asia's first Grand Slam single champion unleashed a searing backhand winner down the line to pressure Sharapova at deuce in the first game and broke the Russian when she prevailed in a fierce baseline skirmish.
Keeping Sharapova pinned to the baseline and jumping on her second serve, Li raced to a 4-1 lead courtesy of an imperious backhand down the line on the third break-point of the game.
Sharapova, struggling to breach Li's defences with her serve, smacked a huge backhand return to claw back a break but was broken again when she netted.
Li marched on to raise three set points, closing it out in style by blasting a cross-court forehand that kissed the line.
With the temperature rising above 34 Celsius (93F), Sharapova began to take swings at everything Li threw at her and raised a breakpoint at 1-0, but the Chinese showed nerves of steel, cancelling it out with a cross-court forehand winner that grazed the line.
Li pressed again at 2-2, with Sharapova conceding a second break point in the game with her fifth double-fault and then smacking a backhand long to fall behind 3-2.
Li ripped three huge serves to stave off a breakpoint in the following game, enjoying a rush of confidence that she rode to victory.
Hudson Report: Job outlook mixed
The number of employers intending to decrease headcount has more than doubled this quarter, up to 10.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the Hudson Report released on Jan 15.
The manufacturing and industrial sector is reporting the highest intentions to decrease staffing levels at 14.9 percent.
Employers remain cautions despite a slight rebound in the sector.
Growth has largely been spurred by government investment and in the private sector many organizations are still feeling the effects of credit curbs. It will take time for growth to even out across the industry, the report further explained.
One in 10 firms is planning to decrease headcount in the media, public relations
and advertising sector, which Hudson experts think to be in line with trends in the wider economy.
The absence of large global events, such as the Olympic Games, combined with seasonality is also contributing to this drop.
The healthcare and life sciences sector has the best prospects overall, with 78.4 percent of employers planning to increase headcount.
The sector is developing at an astonishing rate on the back of surging healthcare spending - projected to grow from $357 billion in 2011 to $1 trillion by 2020 - and an increase in the number of multinational companies headquartering their operations in China.
Hudson is seeing particular demand for roles in pharmaceutical and bio-technology as well as business development and R&D.
The consumer sector has the second-best prospects overall, with about 71.5 percent of employers willing to increase headcount in the first quarter.
The continued demand for staff in this sector is found to be closely related to China's explosive e-commerce landscape, which has changed the way Chinese consumers buy and sell goods.
Around 30 percent of transactions were made in the apparel sector, with total sales hitting 300 billion yuan year-on-year to November 2012.
Within banking and financial services, Hudson is seeing demand for junior and mid-level hires, as well as credit risk and front-office talent with close ties to state-owned companies and large local corporates.
Market shifts warrant flexible recruiting
The job market across the Asia-Pacific region is evolving at lighting speed. About 43
percent of the interviewed employees in China said they would leave their current position in the following year due to bleak prospects for promotion, according to The Randstad World of Work Report 2012/13.
The report also said that about another 19 percent of the interviewees will quit their jobs because their salaries are not competitive enough.
Illustrating the challenges, wage income for urban households rose 13 percent in the first half of 2012, while average monthly income for migrant workers rose 14.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Plans for addressing talent scarcity over the next decade also show employers are ready to embrace more flexible work options, with 24 percent of the interviewed companies willing to hire more people on a temporary or contract basis, and 34 percent planning to hire more people on flexible work arrangements.
\collaboration, and improving the supply of new talent, are the key strategies employers will undertake to tackle one of their biggest challenges - improving productivity - over the next five years,\
About 71 percent of the interviewed employers are looking to boost middle management capabilities to improve productivity over the next five years, signaling the time to start thinking about the pipeline for executive recruitment, training and development.
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