World number one Dinara Safina of Russia reacts after losing a point during her second round match against Zhang Shuai of China at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing October 5, 2009. [Agencies]
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World number one Dinara Safina of Russia reacts after losing a point during her second round match against Zhang Shuai of China at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing October 5, 2009. [Agencies] |
BEIJING - Wildcard Zhang Shuai from China made the biggest news at the ongoing China Open tennis tournament, beating world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the second round on Monday.
The 20-year-old, only ranked 226 in the world and spending much of her time playing the ITF events, battled two hours to outlast the Russian 7-5, 7-6(5) for a berth in the last 16 and the biggest-ever victory in her career.
Zhang, who even didn't have her image added on the WTA official website, looked a little nervous at the start, committing double fault in her first serve game.
Safina, still looking for her first Grand Slam title to underline her credentials, broke Zhang at love in the sixth game to lead at 4-2, but the Chinese girl started to hit top gear and play solid game from the baseline, breaking back to level the match.
Zhang pushed hard and forced Safina into some uncharacteristic errors before the Russian dropped serve again to hand in a 7-5 first set loss.
Safina never felt comfortable in the second set while Zhang seemed to play a game much above her level.
After trading break, the match headed for a tiebreak where Zhang, capitalising on her opponent's unforced errors, stormed to a 4-0 lead.
The 23-year-old Russian managed to pull within 4-3 but the momentum was not at her side.