Peng Shuai became the first ever Chinese at the annual China Open to reach last four as she battled past Japanese Ai Sugiyama in a marathon quarter-final on Friday.
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Non-stop Peng, who has scored four straight wins at the Open, needed two hours and 41 minutes to overcome the opponent 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-2 before blowing kisses to the home fans at the Center Court of the Beijing Tennis Center.
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60th-ranked Peng had parntered Russian Vera Zvonareva to upset top seed Zheng Jie and Yan Zi in doubles and ousted 45th-ranked Catalina Castano of Colombia and 25th-ranked Maria Kirilenko of Russia in singles.
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The opening set was hotly contested until it was levelled at 6-6 with each registering three breaks. Peng held nerves to seal the tiebreak at 7-3 and the set with a smash after a spectacular lobbing save.
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11 years older than her Chinese counterpart, Sugiyama started strongly by breaking Peng at love in the second game of the second set jumping to a 3-0 lead and never looked back before securing the 6-3 win.
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The 20-year-old Peng, however, did not lose her patience and stamina and clinched the deciding third set by converting three out of six breaking opportunities against just one out of seven for the Japanese.

(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2006)
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