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Zheng brings Ivanovic crashing down
Friday, 27 June 2008 Written by Barry Newcombe

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, clear favourite to win Wimbledon for the first time this year, was humbled in the third round on Court No. 1 by Zheng Jie of China. Zheng, ranked 133 in the world, secured the astonishing 6-1, 6-4 victory in 72 minutes.

The 24-year-old Zheng was playing at Wimbledon for only the third time and had fallen down the rankings after missing last year with an ankle injury. Her opponent, in contrast, was number one in the world and French Open champion. But Ivanovic, 20, had shown signs of frailty in her second round match against Nathalie Dechy of France, having to save two match points. And turmoil followed her every step of the way against Zheng.

The Chinese girl was playing a calm and precise game and remained unflappable as she neared her astonishing achievement. Ivanovic was chasing the match from the start and the ultimately the task proved beyond her.

Ivanovic was thrust into the top spot in the women's game because of the unexpected retirement of Justine Henin. She responded to her elevation by winning at Roland Garros but at Wimbledon there were fewer factors in her favour. She is a clay court player of great presence but a counter-puncher like Zheng was always likely to worry her on grass.

Zheng also benefited from a better start than the top seed, taking the first set after only 30 minutes. If there was a test of nerve in the early stages, the girl from Sichuan province passed it comfortably.

Zheng needed just one set point to take the lead. First she had to save four break points at 5-1, and when that was done she went to set point with a drop shot on her backhand side with Ivanovic on the baseline. A service winner gave her the first set.

There were signs at the start of the second set that Ivanovic might recover and start to take control of the match. She held her opening serve but from 1-1 there were three breaks of serve in succession, leaving the Serb 3-2 behind.

Thereafter, Zheng stayed in command, maintaining a high percentage of quality shots. At 5-4 she served for the match. After an Ivanovic forehand winner on the first point, Zheng then produced four service winners in a row, the last one spinning off the Serbian's racquet and flying out to take the Chinese into the fourth round and a meeting with Agnes Szavay.

Golden girl Zheng wins again
Monday, 30 June 2008 Written by Sally Easton

China's big hope for Olympic doubles gold Jie Zheng continued her golden run in the Wimbledon ladies' singles by beating her third seed, Hungary's Agnes Szavay, to move through to the last eight.

The 24-year-old, conqueror of top seed Ana Ivanovic in the previous round and Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the first round, raced through the match 6-3, 6-4, meaning she has yet to drop a set in her four matches so far.

Svazay struggled in the early games with her favoured serve, but both players worked their games well, with Szavay shooting through strong forehands and Zheng displaying her wickedly, whippy-fast backhand on more than a few occasions.

There was only one break of serve in the set, by Zheng for a 5-3 lead. And the Chinese woman needed only one attempt for the set, securing it with her only ace of the entire match.

Zheng - a doubles specialist, who is ranked just 133 in singles and needed a wild card to play here - was taking control of the match thanks to some superb punched forehand drives, where she let the ball bounce just a fraction higher, then powered the ball into a bottom corner of the court.

Szavay fought back well in the second set, securing and banking her first break point in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. She made better use of the width of the court, running Zheng from one side to the other, to reach a 4-1 lead.

But this was as far as Hungary’s nascent star got. While she showed flashes of great skill and shot placement, she could not put together a string of such strokes to get a grip of the match.

Zheng broke back, with one of her powerfully punched forehand drives followed by a stinging backhand down the line. And she broke again, meaning she just had to serve the match out to wrap up another notable victory and move a step closer to setting up an ideal birthday - she will turn 25 on Saturday, the day of the ladies' singles final.

After the match she said: “I feel today is the best tennis for me. I feel I had the stronger mental [approach], and every ball I do the fighting. I want to win match [very] much because it is the first time [I have a] good chance to be in the quarterfinal.”

She plays 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova in the quarter-finals, about whom, Zheng added: "I play Vaidisova maybe two time, three times. I never win one time. In grass she [is] coming back more and more. I just try to keep going.”

Zheng zooms into record books

Tuesday, 1 July 2008 Written by Sally Easton Zheng Jie became the first wild card to reach a semi-final of the ladies' singles and the first Chinese woman in the last four of a Grand Slam semi-final as she beat 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. Zheng, who is ranked 133 in the world and has beaten three seeds already, included top seed Ana Ivanovic, will play Serena Williams in the semi-finals. Vaidisova was higher ranked and with a bigger reputation but the 19-year-old has not been playing her best tennis for much of this year and was clearly vulnerable to attack. And Zheng made the best of this. She broke Vaidisova’s first serve and never looked back in the first set. An extra gear gave Zheng a fearsomely fast forehand which she used tactically. Having built two break points, it was Vaidisova who gifted her a game with a double fault. Sadly, she did the same a little later, which reflected the Czech’s tentative approach and lack of confidence in the first set. The second set was more evenly fought. Vaidisova worked a break in the fifth game of with a forehand drive that gently grazed the baseline. But the advantage was short-lived as the strength and accuracy of the teenager’s forehand was too often notable for its absence. Soon enough, and sure enough, Vaidisova found herself serving at 4-5 to stay in the match. But she held on and it was an unforced error by Zheng which gave Vaidisova a chance to take the send the match into a third set. A stunning Zheng double-handed backhand, straight as an arrow, to the forehand baseline gave her break point for the tie-break. She did a little pirouette of angst behind the baseline when she failed to capitalise on the break and gave the set to the Czech. This was the first set 24-year-old from China had lost in the Championships. Zheng, though, was undeterred. She got on with the job at hand with quiet focus. The quickest of fist-clenches, with the tiniest of pumps, was as emotive as the Chinese woman got, both to congratulate herself and to gee herself up. The third set became a little untidy as Vaidisova’s timing tumbled, leaving her to turn to her bench with a shrug of the shoulders and a shake of the head. So it was no great surprise when Zheng broke in the fourth game. The teenager was clearly out of sorts, and Zheng could taste victory in the air of No.1 Court. Unforced error followed by unforced error gave Zheng a 5-1 lead and the serve for the match.

Though ladies’ semi-finalist Zheng Jie of China is a relative unknown to the casual tennis observer, this Wimbledon marks something of a comeback for a player who was once ranked inside the top 30 and who has 10 doubles titles to her name.

There have been a raft of statistics since the diminutive (she stands only 5’4”, or 1.64m) rightie from Chengdu in Sichuan province, overcame Nicole Vaidisova to win her quarter-final on Tuesday. First Grand Slam singles semi-finalist from China and the third ever Asian woman (after Japan’s Kazuko Sawamatsu and Kimiko Date); second wild-card to reach the last four of a Slam (the only other one being former champion Monica Seles at the 1995 US Open, on the comeback trail after her stabbing), second lowest ranked Wimbledon semi-finalist (at 133 in the world, she is one place higher than Mirjana Lucic who reached the last four here in 1999).

She is, however, not the out-of-the-blue newcomer that many think she is. Zheng debuted on the ITF circuit as a 16-year-old in 2000 and won her first doubles title – with Yan Zi – the following year. She stepped up to the WTA tour in 2003, winning her first title with Yan that year and also becoming the first Chinese woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at Roland Garros that year and the second (after Na Li) to win a WTA tour event at Hobart in 2005.

The following year should have been the breakthrough year that confirmed Zheng as one of the top names in women’s tennis. She and Yan won the doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while she took singles titles at Estoril and Stockholm, rising to No. 26 in the world and being seeded at the US Open.

She won gold at the Asian Games that year, beating Sania Mirza in the process, but this was as good as it got as injuries disrupted almost her entire 2007 season. She sprained her ankle heavily at Roland Garros and was forced to have surgery, leading her to withdraw from all events for the rest of the season.

By the time she was fit and ready to play again, all the good work of the previous seasons had been undone and her ranking had plummeted to 163. She had to go through qualifying at the French Open but made the most of her opportunity, getting through to the main draw and beating Mara Santangelo and No. 21 seed Maria Kirilenko before falling to eventual runner-up Dinara Safina in the third round.

This – and her previous doubles success on SW19’s lawns – was enough to secure a Wimbledon wild-card, and the subsequent results we have seen over the past 10 days.

Her success has provided a much-needed boost to Sichuan province, ravaged by the recent earthquake, and she has pledged to donate her earnings here to the relief fund as well as doing charity work after the tournament.

With the Olympics also looming on the horizon, China will be hoping that Zheng’s ankle continues to withstand the strain as she gives the country something to smile about.