Home hero Peng Shuai continued her magical run at the China Open
on Friday as she muscled out former world No 1 Amelie Mauresmo to
reach the semi-finals.
Peng Shuai of China
celebrates after beating Amelie Mauresmo of France in the
quarterfinals of the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on
Friday. Peng beat Mauresmo 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
The 21-year-old Peng, 7-5, 6-1 conqueror of Martina Hingis on
Wednesday, rallied to beat Mauresmo 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a two hour 27
minute thriller and sets up a tie with sixth seed Agnes Szavay, who
defeated Maria-Emilia Salerni of Argentina 6-2, 6-4.
"A lot of people came to me and hugged me off the court, then I
realized this was a big win," said Peng, who lost to Maria
Kirilenko of Russia in the semis in Beijing last year.
"I have never played against her. I know she is one of the best
players on the Tour, so I was very nervous before the match. But as
the game went on, I felt my confidence and also with some breaking
serves, I started to believe I had a chance to win.
"Winning over top players made me feel great, I am happy to
delight my family, friends and my fans in Beijing in this way."
Mauresmo, playing in her first tournament since taking part in
France's 3-2 Fed Cup defeat by Italy in July, took full command,
keeping her tag of red-hot favorite right into the match, breaking
at 4-4 to pocket the first set in 39 minutes.
However, the home star prevented a repeat of this score in the
second set, when she nosed ahead at 4-4 and broke serve to keep her
hopes alive.
The third set saw Peng tighten up her game and she broke twice
before winning her second consecutive victory over seeded players
this week.
"I will remember the match because I learned a lot from her,"
said Peng. "She can hit, can slice and her ball has a lot of top
spins, she is a master of tennis in the world."
Mauresmo, a two-time Grand Slam winner who was hampered by an
abductor strain and recovery from an appendectomy in March, has
struggled for form and fitness throughout a season in which she
failed to make it past the quarterfinals in more than half of the
tournaments.
"I was struggling physically," said Mauresmo. "I haven't played
for six or seven weeks so I felt exhausted during the match,
especially at the end of the second set.
"I am definitely disappointed tonight, but I will deal with
that. I have to make sure that I need to work harder in the next
few weeks to get my games back."
Earlier on Friday, Lindsay Davenport struggled through a rough
opening set against Elena Dementieva before taking charge to win
the match and book a spot in the semi-finals at the China Open.
The victory puts the unseeded Davenport, testing the waters for
a possible full-time return to tennis after a year away, into a
Saturday semi-final clash with second seed Jelena Jankovic, who
ousted Japan's Akiko Morigami 6-3, 7-5.
(China Daily September 22, 2007)
