Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie would have regretted it if she had quit the China Open because of the cough she picked up.
The world No 30 thought about withdrawing but decided to hang in there and convincingly defeated sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in straight sets yesterday.
"The China Open is in my homeland, so I had to keep trying," said Zheng after the 6-2, 6-3 win.
Zheng picked up the cough at the Guangzhou Open a week ago, when she was a semifinalist, and developed into a fever before her first round match on Tuesday.
However, the player known for her persistence, which helped her make tennis history by entering the last four at July's Wimbledon, as a wildcard, once again brought her best form against all the odds.
"This is probably the worst situation ever," Zheng said. "I had to spend a lot of time warming up before the game. I started to find my form after the fifth game in the first set, which had 10 deuces."
Her victory saved some blushes for the host after her teammates, including the nation's top player Li Na, Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai all crashed out of the tournament in their first-round matches the day before.
"I just tried to do my best," said Zheng, who was asked why she appeared so stable while most of her compatriots had problems. "I don't really think about it."
With an overnight 3-0 lead, Zheng had few problems disposing of Radwanska in the rain-interrupted first-round game. She raced into a 5-0 lead and took the first set 6-2. The duo traded breaks in the middle of the second set but Zheng managed to gain a lead of 5-3 before serving for victory.
"I was not afraid of her because she is not a power player," Zheng said. "I played against her in Dubai in February and I lost in three sets. But then my physical condition wasn't good because I had just come back from injury."
Radwanska is just the latest of a string of high-ranked players who has fallen victim to Zheng. At Wimbledon the petite Chinese player defeated then world No 1 Ana Ivanovic, Hungarian Agnes Szavay and Czech Nicole Vaidisova en route to the semifinals.
"Chinese players received more attention after I got to the Wimbledon semifinals. It helps develop tennis in China," Zheng said.
"Beating a top-10 player will give me more confidence and I hope I will end the year with a higher ranking," added Zheng, who reached a career-high ranking of 27 in 2006.
"I'm not the kind of person that looks to make a long-term plan. I always challenge my best ranking and if I can go beyond that I will be very happy," she added.
She will next play Japan's veteran Ai Sugiyama.
Despite Zheng's victory, local players continued to fall yesterday as men's singles players Sun Peng and Bai Yan both lost in the first round to, respectively, Jean-Clude Schetter of Switzerland and Go Soeda of Japan.
In other matches, American men's eighth seed Sam Querrey defeated compatriot Jesse Levine 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4), while Czech Ivo Minar overcame South Korean Lee Hyung-taik 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
(China Daily September 25, 2008)