Li Na of China hits a return against Annabel Medina Garrigues of Spain during their singles match at the Hopman Cup in Perth on Tuesday. Li won the match 6-3, 6-1. Li says she spent four weeks in Munich, Germany, training six hours a day with the dream of claiming her second Grand Slam title this year. [Tony Ashby / Agence France-Presse]

China's ace looks in prime form after cruising to victory in her singles match at the Hopman Cup; now she's aiming to contend for another Grand Slam title after a disappointing end to 2011

Li Na has revealed her desperation to win another major championship before time is called on her career. The French Open champion continued her individual form resurgence at the Hopman Cup on Tuesday but was unable to prevent China's 2-1 defeat by Spain in the mixed teams event.

The world No 5 peeled off 18 forehand winners to beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-1 in 77 minutes, but that was as good as it got for China.

Spain's Fernando Verdasco made light work of the lowest-ranked player in the tournament, world No 424 Wu Di, cruising through 6-3, 6-4 as third-seed and undefeated Spain moved closer to a place in Saturday's final.

Wu also struggled in the deciding mixed doubles and Spain won, 6-0, 6-2.

Li's ball striking and court movement have been impeccable in consecutive singles wins at the event thanks to an intensive four-week training camp in Munich during the offseason.

The 29-year-old, however, said she could hear the clock ticking on her career and wanted to be perfectly prepared for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park from Jan 16.

"I am not young any more and I do not have time to waste," Li said.

"I have to focus every second of every tournament I play to make the most of the time I have left. That is why I stayed in Munich for so long ... to get my body healthy and strong," she said.

"This is a good warm-up, but the Australian Open will be very different. It's hot, it's outside, everybody will be fighting on the court.

"In Munich, I had four weeks of no interviews, no photos shoots, only tennis training.

"It was tough, six hours of training a day, two or three hours on the court, but mostly it was for fitness because I want to be healthy for a whole season. I have had knee and back injuries and I don't want that again."

After having come from a set down to dispose of world No 9 Marion Bartoli on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday, Li admitted she had struggled to cope with her status as China's first Grand Slam champion in the latter stages of 2012, winning seven of the 16 matches she played after her breakthrough French Open triumph.

Li bowed out in the second round at Wimbledon and in the first round at the US Open, but her rejuvenated early season form bodes well as she attempts to replicate her appearance in the final at last year's Australian Open.

She is now again being coached by her husband, Jiang Shan, who was in charge during her run at Melbourne but was relegated to the role of hitting partner during her French Open success, when Michael Mortensen took over as coach.

Mortensen had replaced Jiang after Li failed to win a match in her next four tournaments following last year's Australian Open.

Li denied she had any immediate retirement plans.

"At the moment my body feels fit so I can't think about how many years until I retire," she said.

"One day I might wake up and say 'I'm tired, I don't want to do this any more.' Then I will stop. But now I think I can play as well as the first half of 2011. Maybe in 2012, I play even better."

Verdasco was merciless in the singles and ruthless in the mixed doubles against the overawed Wu and his female partner.

"It is really hard to return a man's serve," Li said.

"I mean, really hard. Today I couldn't pick up one ball. I was like, 'what am I even doing here?'

"He (Verdasco) hit aces just about every time. I asked Wu Di 'what am I supposed to be doing? How do I play this?' It's just totally different, but good practice for the women players."

Reuters-AFP