With Li Na winning her two singles hosts China overwhelmed two-time title-holders Germany 4-1 here on Sunday qualifying for the World Group of the Fed Cup tennis tournament for the first time.

China first entered the world's premier tennis team event in1981 and registered their historical result after a hiatus of 25 years.

Chinese captain Jiang Hongwei hailed the four players but was quick to add, "There's are still a lot of areas for the Chinese team to improve on if we want to get better results in the future. Before the World Group matches in April, 2007 I want to correct the mistakes of some players."

Jiang said the only match China lost was because Sun Tiantian was too tired and not confident enough.

According to Barbara Rittner, the Germany team captain China had a very good team. "This is a great opportunity for our young players to compete with the Chinese. Our players learned a lot from these matches," she said. The Chinese people were good hosts and very friendly to everyone, she added. "I hope the Chinese team will have good luck in next year's World Group matches," was her parting comment.  

The first reversed singles on Sunday between Li Na and Kathrin Woerle seemed to be an easy task for Li before it got underway. But Li, the quarter-finalist in this year's Wimbledon Championships, struggled to win to ensure China's qualification.

Against world No. 22 Li, Woerle ranked 154th in the world, caused lots of problems to prevent Li from getting the expected simple victory. The result was 7-5, 7-5.

After Li's win the last two matches became a show for the Chinese audience. Yet, Sun Tiantian, former Athens Olympic Champion in the women's doubles, was not at her best and lost to Tatiana Malek 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The last match was between Wimbledon champions Zheng Jie/Yan Zi and Kristina Borrois/Jasmin Woehr. The Chinese showed no mercy and quickly sealed the match 6-3 and 6-4 much to the enjoyment of their fans.

On Saturday, Li defeated Barrois 6-3, 6-4 while Zheng Jie trounced Woerle 6-4, 7-5 in the first two singles. Li Na won two matches to become the heroine of the Chinese victory.

With this triumph safely tucked away China will make their debut in the 2007 Fed Cup World Group.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2006)