China Open: Chinese duo fail to make history
By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-26 05:29

China's Zheng Jie and Yan Zi failed in their attempt to create history on home soil as they lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain and Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela 6-2, 6-4 yesterday at the China Open women's doubles final.

Zheng Jie (R) and Yan Zi of China celebrate a point during their China Open finals against Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain and Maria Vento-Kabchi of Venezuela in Beijing September 25, 2005. [Xinhua]

They were the last two Chinese players left in the tournament, but the achievements this year are already in sharp contrast to the female tennis players' performances last year.

In the inaugural China Open last year, all the home players were ousted in the second round in both ATP and WTA tournaments.

"I'm happy to see our players displayed their usual level," said Sun Jinfang, director of China's Administrative Centre of Tennis. "They've achieved much better results than last year and I believe the girls have improved throughout the tournament."

In Saturday's semi-finals, Zheng and Yan crushed No 2 seeds Corina Morariu and Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-3, while Llagostera Vives and Vento-Kabchi defeated another Chinese pair, the Athens Olympic gold medallists Li Ting and Sun Tiantian 6-1, 2-6, 6-2.

"It's a bit of a pity to lose the match," said Zheng. "They played smart tennis and controlled the match, but we were not able to make rapid adjustments and I think that's why we lost in straight sets."

Amid the enthusiastic support from thousands of spectators, the Chinese pair started slowly as they were broken without scoring in the first game of the match.

The best chance of the set came in the sixth game when they held two break points but soon threw it away with unforced errors.

The pair then lost their serve again in the following game, before losing the first set in a lopsided 6-2.

After exchanging broken-serves at the beginning of the second set, the Chinese pair lost a crucial service game in the seventh, which all but ended their chance of fighting back.

(China Daily 09/26/2005 page1)