Zheng Jie of China hits a return against Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain at the second round of women's singles during the Beijing Olympic tennis event in Beijing, China, Aug. 12, 2008. Zheng Jie beat Nuria Llagostera Vives 2-1. [Xinhua]

 

Zheng Jie led a strong Chinese challenge on the third match day of the Beijing Olympic tennis tournament as the China's female number one staged another comeback win in the women's singles on Tuesday before taking opening win in doubles with long-time partner Yan Zi after midnight.

Zheng, the pin-up girl from China's 80s-born athletes, fought from one set down to beat tough-minded Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives in the second round.

And just seven and a half hours after the impressive victory, Zheng came onto the court with Yan again to outclass Daniela Hantuchova and Janette Husarova from Slovakia 6-1, 7-6 (11-9) in the first round of the women's doubles.

The 25-year-old Zheng, who had survived a marathon match on Monday to dismiss Hungarian 11th seed Agnes Szavay, continued the momentum being watched by a vociferous crowd, but she was a little bit angry with some of the fans showing too much enthusiasm.

"I would like to thank them for cheering me on in such heat and also such a long match, three hours of competition, but some fans may not be familiar with the requirements of the tennis games. Sometimes they may cheer too early. I hope that next time maybe they can pay attention to that," she said.

The grueling play in singles does not seem to worry Zheng, who has been expected to bring home gold medal in doubles.

"These two games (including the first-round match) are quite close, so it will consume some energy," said Zheng, a doubles expert who won two Grand Slams in 2006. "It is different from the Grand Slams which will have a longer time for me to adjust."

"But before the Olympic Games we had one month's training, which has provided sufficient energy to me, so I'm not affected by the singles. I think that the doubles will not be affected," added Zheng.

Coming into the Games, Zheng had said she will focus on doubles rather than singles despite the stunning run to Wimbledon semifinals in July, but now with these blockbuster matches, she has boosted the chances of landing more medals for the host.

Zheng will be joined in singles by Li Na, who breezed through Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-2, 7-5.

Having made trailblazing work to lead China into spotlight in the tennis world, the 26-year-old has suffered setback after long-time injury. She was also sidelined for two or three months this season ahead of the Games. But the first two matches, notably the first round win over Russian third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, enormously lifted her confidence and the home fans' expectation as well.

"Actually yesterday I was quite excited. I only went to sleep at like 3:00 yesterday, (becauce) I was against a very strong opponent, my success boosted my confidence a lot," Li said.

Olga Govortsova and Darya Kustova from Belarus beat another Chinese pair of Peng Shuai/Sun Tiantian 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3).

In an earlier match, Peng was also defeated by French 15th seed Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)