the first round after a close contest with Kristina Brandi. She ended the year world-ranked 170th, up 231 places year-on-year. Early in 2005, Liu continued to play some of her best tennis, qualifying for Hobart with wins over Sofia Arvidsson and Maureen Drake (only to lose in the first round to Gisela Dulko) and for the Australian Open with a win over Yuka Yoshida (only to be ousted from the main draw at the first hurdle by Vera Zvonareva). In April, she reached the semi-final of a $75,000 tournament at Dothan, Alabama, losing to Varvara Lepchenko. This brought up her world-ranking to a high point of 145. She was destined to lose her opening match at four of the next five events she entered, the only exception being a $50,000 ITF tournament at Beijing in June, where she reached the semi-final before conceding a walkover to Li Ting. Since losing to Lepchenko once more in the first round of qualifying for Los Angeles, early in August 2005, Liu has not played another singles match. Her world ranking has therefore plummeted to 344th at the time of writing (March 4, 2006). ITF Circuit finals Singles (5–4) Doubles (2-4) See also Tennis in China External links 1983 births Living people Chinese female tennis players Universiade medalists in tennis Universiade bronze medalists for China Tennis players from Tianjin Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade