Results tagged “zhengjie”

The words "tennis powerhouse" are not generally associated with China, but the PRC has made great progress in recent years in terms of establishing itself as a rising star in the tennis world--witness Li Na coming in second at this month's Monterrey Open and Zheng Jie (pictured above) making it to the semifinals at Wimbledon last year.

What will the Chinese sports world be buzzing about in 2009? Here is a look at what could lie ahead this year. In no particular order, the top 10 sports stories in China for 2009:

It's not easy being the only male player of Chinese descent at a tennis tournament, but Taiwanese player, Lu Yen-Hsun (卢彦勋) doesn't seem to mind. He scored the first major upset on the men's side of the Australian Open yesterday. He defeated the number ten seed, David Nalbandian of Argentina, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. In the 3rd round, the no. 61 player in the world will next play the no. 21 seed, Tommy Robredo from Spain. Regardless of what happens, this will be the best grand slam effort of Lu's career.

Shanghaiist's sports editor, and founding editor of ChinaSportsToday.com, Maggie Rauch, speaks to Sufei of Sexy Beijing about tennis star Zheng Jie and gender testing. Part 1 of the series can be found here.

Another world-class tennis tournament, another semifinal appearance for a Chinese player. Li Na (李娜) pulled off a huge upset and kept China's tennis singles medal hopes alive when she beat Venus Williams (USA)—7-5, 7-5—Thursday night in Beijing. Li, ranked 42nd in the world, bested the Wimbledon champion and 8th ranked player in two sets.

One of the last sports to determine its Olympic matchups, tennis finally held its draw Thursday night at the Swissotel in Beijing. China's best shot at a tennis medal is on the women's side where, despite lacking a player among the top 25 in the world, it has the maximum four players, all with the potential to pull off upsets.

Serena Williams put an end to Zheng Jie's Wimbledon run Thursday, winning 6-2 and 7-6 (5). Serena had little trouble with Zheng in the first set, but the second went to a tie break, which Serena started strong, going up 3-0 before Zheng fought back to make it 5-5. Serving the ball and down 5-6, Zheng showed a small crack in her otherwise steely composure when she double faulted into the net, handing victory to Serena, who will face her sister Venus in the final Saturday.

China Sports Today has a long story about Wimbledon's Chinese Cinderella story:

Chinese tennis player Zheng Jie is making history and showing some Olympic promise with her recent play at Wimbledon. First she shocked tournament top seed, world No. 1 and the sport's newest "It girl," Ana Ivanovic in straight sets in the third round. And yesterday, Zheng dispatched Hungary's Ana Szavay to become the second Chinese woman to make it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Zheng won in two sets, 6-3, 6-4, showing the same calm confidence she was praised for after her match with Ivanovic.