Zheng Jie of China upset world top-ranked Dinara Safina 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in the third round of the LA women's tennis championship on Thursday.

China's Zheng Jie stretches for the ball during her match against Britain's Melanie South at the Edgbaston Classic tennis tournament in Birmingham June 11, 2009.[Xinhua/Reuters File Photo]

It is Zheng's first victory over the 23-year-old Russian in their five career meetings.

Zheng's quarterfinal opponent will be Australian Sam Stosur, who continued her strong form run by comfortably beating sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-2.

Safina, the defending tournament champion and runner-up at the Australian and French opens this year, hardly looked like the best player, struggling with her serve and numerous unforced errors throughout the match.

Zheng is ranked 23rd in the world. She has won three career titles on the WTA Tour, but none since 2006. She is best known for reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon last year, the first Chinese player to do so.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2009)