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China's Zheng Jie celebrates scoring during the women's singles quarterfinal against Serbia's Ana Ivanovic at the 2008 China Open in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 26, 2008. Zheng won 2-1 and qualified for the semifinal. [Gong Lei/Xinhua]? |
Local favorite Zheng Jie outclassed world number four Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the China Open.
Wimbledon Open semifinalist Zheng is the only Chinese woman still playing in the tournament after four others bowed out in the first round.
"This is a good win for me," said Zheng. "It was in China and in front of my home crowd. There were lots of fans supporting me, which gave me even more motivation."
Ivanovic, the French Open champion and second seed here, led inthe first set, but failed twice to serve it out before Zheng won in the tiebreaker.
The Serb fought her way back into the match, taking the second set despite an error-strewn display.
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Serbia's Ana Ivanovic reacts after losing a point during the women's singles quarterfinal against China's Zheng Jie at the 2008 China Open in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 26, 2008. Ivanovic lost the match 1-2. [Gong Lei/Xinhua] |
But Zheng regained the upper hand in the third set, breaking the Ivanovic serve in the first game. Despite further breaks for both players, the tenacious Zheng held her nerve to take the decider.
The grueling match lasted almost three hours.
In two other quarterfinals, No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russiadefeated Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-4 and Russian No. 5 Vera Zvonareva thrashed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-0, 6-1.
In the semifinals, Zheng plays Kuznetsova, while Zvonareva plays the winner of Thursday's late match between top-seeded Jelena Jankovic and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.
In the men's quarterfinals Friday, Dudi Sela of Israel upset No. 6 Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-4, 6-1 to reach his first semifinalin a major ATP event.
No. 7 Rainer Schuettler of Germany ousted No. 4 Richard Gasquet4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Unseeded Bjorn Phau of Germany also defeated No. 3 and defending champion Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
In the late quarterfinal, No. 2 Andy Roddick faces Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
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China's Zheng Jie returns the ball to Serbia's Ana Ivanovic during the women's singles quarterfinal at the 2008 China Open in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 26, 2008. Zheng won 2-1 and qualified for the semifinal. [Gong Lei/Xinhua] |
(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2008)