Chinese female number one Zheng Jie claimed another comeback win at the Beijing Olympic tennis event as she fought from one set down to beat tough-minded Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives in the second round on Tuesday.
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Zheng Jie of China reacts after defeating Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in a women's singles second round tennis match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 12, 2008. [Agencies]
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This was Zheng's first victory against Llagostera Vives in four attempts. The win avenged her loss to the Spaniard in April's Fed Cup World Group semifinals, which saw Spain book its place into September's final against Russia.
"These two games (including first-round match against Hungarian 11th seed Agnes Szavay the previous evening) are quite close, so it will consume some energy," said Zheng, a doubles expert who won two Grand Slams in 2006. "It is different from the Grand Slams which will have a longer time for me to adjust."
"But before the Olympic Games we had one month's training, which has provided sufficient energy to me, so I'm not affected by the singles. I think that the doubles will not be affected," added Zheng, who will compete in the opening round of the doubles later on Tuesday with long-time partner Yan Zi.
Coming into the Games, Zheng had said she will focus on doubles rather than singles despite the stunning run to Wimbeldon semifinals in July, but now with these blockbuster matches, she has boosted the chances of landing more medals for the host.
Zheng, who faces Russian sixth seed Dinara Safina next, is the first of the Chinese women through to the third round of the women's singles.
Earlier, another Chinese hope Peng Shuai was outclassed by French 15th seed Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-2.
The only other player to carry home interest in singles event is Li Na, the former top 20 player, as all the men players fell by Tuesday.
The 25-year-old Zheng, who has survived a marathon match on Monday to dismiss Szavay 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, continued the momentum being watched by a vociferous crowd.
It was hard to hold serve for both players, with Zheng converting on 10 of all 19 break point opportunities and the Spaniard breaking six times on back of 14 chances.
It was also an error-packed match, with the Chinese girl committing 67 unforced errors while Llagostera Vives an uncharacteristic 80 in the 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-4 thriller.
Both players battled through a topsy-turvy 76-minute first set, with neither serving well and needing to capitalise on their opponent's amounting errors rather than their own winning shots.
In the first-set tiebreaker, world No. 103 Llagostera Vives secured her first set point at 6-3 with an overhead smash, but in the end needed a total of five set points to close out the set as Zheng, 38th ranked in the world, applied the pressure.
The Spaniard, who made heavy use of an ice pack from time to time, found herself facing a third and final set when Zheng stole the second 6-1 in a sluggish 50 minutes.
Both players could only hold onto their serve once en route to 4-4 in the final set, although a pumped Zheng appeared to be the stronger of the two women.
With Llagostera Vives fighting to remain in the match serving at 4-5, Zheng wrong-footed the Spaniard to set up the first of three match points. Llagostera Vives saved two, but handed Zheng the three hours and nine minutes victory when she sent a long forehand.
