Daily Blog
Tuesday, 26 January 2010 05:01
Written by Phil Boyle
Chengdu's Zheng Jie (who is unseeded) has just created a touch of Australian Open tennis history in becoming the first Chinese player to ever make the semi-finals there. Zheng pretty much thrashed another unseeded player, Maria Kirilenko of Russia, 6-1 6-3 to line up a tie against seven-time grand slam champion Justine Henin. Henin's story itself is a fairytale one, with the Australian Open being her comeback tournament after retiring two years ago.
Back to the mighty Zheng, this achievement matches that of reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2008. Most people will remember her though for being one half of the all-conquering Chinese pair that took home two Slam championships in doubles at the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon alongside Zi Yan. With Henin still looking a little rusty round the edges is a fantastic chance to reach the final on Saturday.
And what a final that could be as it has been a fantastic tournament for China so far, with Wuhan's Li Na (seeded number 16 in the tournament) lining up tomorrow against Venus Williams in another quarter final. Li Na could set up an all China final. Small problem though, all she has to do is beat Venus WIlliams then her sister Serena in the semi final. Easy. Or perhaps not.
Again, back to Zheng, in an interview after the matchshe was quizzed on why no Chinese men were scaling the heights of her and Li. "That’s a hard question that everybody wants to know. Maybe men need more hard working." Swing it sister.
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