China's dynamic tennis duo of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie smashed their
way into the semi-finals of the women's doubles competition at the
Wimbledon Tennis Championships yesterday.
The fourth seeds beat the seventh-seeded pair, US Martina
Navratilova and South African Liezel Huber, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 after a
delayed third set?last night. The match began on Wednesday
night but had to be suspended after the second set due to poor
lighting.
The pair next faces second seeds Zimbabwe's Cara Black and
Australian partner Rennae Stubbs for their place in the final.
Cara and Stubbs beat the ninth seeds, Czech Republic's Kveta
Peschke and Italy's Francesca Schiavone, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 in a
rain-interrupted quarter-final at the All England Club on
Wednesday.
Yan and Zheng won their only game with Cara and Stubbs in
straight sets at the 2004 Australian Open.
The Chinese duo clinched China's first-ever tennis Grand Slam
title by winning the Australian Open women's doubles final in a
spectacular victory against top seeds Lisa Raymond of the US and
Samantha Stosur of Australia 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 in January.
In women's singles events, Justine Henin-Hardenne reached her
second Wimbledon final when she out-hit fellow Belgian Kim
Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 on Center Court.
World No.1 Amelie Mauresmo of France outclassed fourth seed and
2004 champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, setting up her finals
clash with Henin-Hardenne, a repeat of their last game at the
Australian Open.
On the men's side, the quarter-final match played yesterday saw
second seed Rafael Nadal grind down Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-3,
6-4, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis,
while three-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer beat
seventh-seeded Mario Ancic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach yet another
Wimbledon semi-final with Jonas Bjorkman.
(CRI.com, China Daily July 7, 2006)
