Sunday's Federation Cup result was arguably the most anticipated moment for Chinese tennis fans in history after China's Olympic gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

The team stormed into World Group Two for the first time after beating Slovenia 4-1 in the World Group Play-offs at the National Sports Training Center in Beijing yesterday.

The success, following a humiliating loss to the formidable Russia in China's first attempt in the play-offs three years ago, once again underlines the improvements of the past few years.

"It is a moment I have been waiting for for many years," said Jiang Hongwei, head coach of the national team. "We are hugely encouraged by today's victory in the Federation Cup and it is enough to say that China is on the right path to reach world level."

After three years competing in the World Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, the Chinese women's team played aggressively against Slovenia, remembered for their quarterfinal appearance in the 2003 World Group.

"The Chinese players have made tremendous progress in recent years," said Mima Jausovec, Slovenia's head coach. "I don't remember any Chinese player five years ago but now they are rising rapidly in the WTA rankings and I am sure they will be one of the major forces in the tour in the near future.

"I am not surprised we lost the match as although we tried very hard they really played better."

Li Na, back after a two-month break for an injured ankle, gave the team two crucial points by winning both her singles matches before Zheng Jie beat Andreja Klepac to wrap up the tournament.

China suffered a 0-1 deficit on the opening day when Zheng lost 6-7, 6-3, 3-6 to world No.58 Katarina Sribotnik, who displayed good form in the Wimbledon Open last month by entering the third round before losing to the Russian Maria Sharapova.

It was Li who brought China back into the game by crushing Klepac 6-1, 6-3 and then stepped up the pressure to put the home team 2-1 ahead when she beat Slovenia's No.1 Sribotnik 6-1, 6-2 in the singles.

"I have been on good form in the past two weeks," said Li, who reached No.33 in the WTA rankings in April, the highest position any Chinese player has ever achieved. "She has big serves and strokes so I just wanted to control her on the baseline and I did it."

The 23-year-old got off to a comfortable start yesterday, taking a 4-0 lead before Sribotnik registered on the scoreboard, and clinching the opening set in just 28 minutes.

"She is incredible," said a disappointed Sribotnik. "She is so fast, so powerful that I can hardly seize any chance I had.

"I've played with a lot of top players but Li was the toughest."

Sribotnik, however, was not ready to fold as she hammered serves and forehand attacks. But Li also launched a severe fight back and broke serves twice before the Slovenian netted her return after 57 minutes.

"Li is talented and very strong physically," said Jausovec. "Her play shocked me and I think she deserves to be the No.20 in the world."

From 2002, Chinese players have started a tight WTA pro-tour schedule, taking part in more than 40 matches a year. In 2004, China's tennis reached its highest point to date.

Zheng made it into the top 16 in the 2004 French Open and Li Ting, paired with Sun Tiantian, won an unprecedented Olympic gold in the women's doubles at the Athens Games. In October last year, Li came out of retirement and won China's first ever WTA title in Guangzhou.

She then secured China's best record in a grand slam event by reaching the third round in the 2005 Australian Open while prodigy Peng Shuai, who missed the Federation Cup because of the WTA tournaments arranged by her agent IMG in the US, managed to push world No.1 Lindsay Davenport to red alert in the singles second round of the French Open this year.

Now the national team heads to Langfang in Hebei Province for three weeks of closed-door training before leaving for the US for a series of WTA tournaments before the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open.

"As long as we keep our feet moving, anything is possible for us," said Jiang.

(China Daily July 11, 2005)