The Chinese contingent failed to repeat last year's miracles at the
Australian Open in Melbourne, but the mood in the camp remains
upbeat.
China's interest in the Open ended yesterday when defending
doubles champions and second seeds Zheng Jie and Yan Zi lost their
semifinal to Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung
6-3, 6-4.
Six Chinese women entered the singles draw but Li Na stood alone
after the second round, solidifying her position as the country's
top player.
Coached by her husband Jiang Shan, Li knocked out Russian ninth
seed Dinara Safina before being out-fought and out-thought by
three-time champion Martina Hingis 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the fourth
round.
Li's performance created a buzz in Melbourne, and she has risen
to 16 in the rankings. Her combative also approach impressed
Hingis.
"I think she had a great season last year where she made her
breakthrough," she said. "Also mentally I think she started
believing after that a little bit more.? A lot of times
confidence makes you know you belong in the top group, in the
elite, and you can make it in the crucial times. I think that's
another step which she made."
Doubles again looked like the likeliest route to victory, with
new pair Sun Shengnan and Sun Tiantian emerging as a dangerous
combination.
After agonizing over whether to split Sun Tiantian and Li Ting,
who claimed gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004, the Suns'
sparkling play vindicated the decision as they reached the
quarterfinals. The pair could well be the country's second doubles
gold potential at the 2008 Beijing?Olympics, although this is
yet to be confirmed.
The Suns stunned US Open champions Nathalie Dechy of France and
Russian Vera Zvonareva before losing to Zheng and Yan in an
all-China quarterfinal clash.
The country's tennis officials praised the pair.
"They were so much better than we expected," said CTA
vice-president Gao Shenyang. "We will decide whether to let them
compete in the Olympics in the coming two months."
In the singles, the performances of Zheng Jie,?Yuan
Meng?and Sun Tiantian disappointed, with none of them reaching
the second round, while in the doubles the?duo of Li Na-Peng
Shuai was knocked out in round two.
For the other survivors of the tournaments, Roger Federer
crushed Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in just 83 minutes to book his
seventh consecutive Grand Slam final as Serena Williams beat Czech
tenth seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to make a women's single
final date with Maria Sharapova, who rode roughshod over tournament
favorite Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-2, drawing the curtain on the
Belgian's final Australian adventure.?
(China Daily January 26, 2007)
