World No. 7 Vera Zvonareva beat top Chinese player Zheng Jie in straight sets on Wednesday to give Team Russia a 1-0 lead over Team Asia Pacific at the women's Team Challenge in Hong Kong.

The Russian trailed in both sets, coming back from 3-5 down in the first set to force a tiebreak. Zheng, who made the Wimbledon singles semifinals in 2008, missed four straight backhands as she lost the tiebreak at 7-3.

Zvonareva rebounded from a 2-0 deficit in the second set and two straight backhand errors by Zheng in the 10th game gave the Russian the break and the win.

Russian Anna Chakvetadze was to play India's Sania Mirza in the second match between the two teams later Wednesday.

The other team matchup will pit Team Europe against Team Americas. World No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is captaining the European squad while seven-time Grand Slam singles champion American Venus Williams is spearheading the Americas team.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2009)