China

Li Na faces Mirza, Zheng Jie takes on Nakamura at tennis semis

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-12 08:30

Top four seeds at the women's singles have rolled on to the semifinals of the tennis tournament at the Doha Asian Games here on Monday.

Top-ranked Li Na of China returns a shot during women's singles tennis quaterfinals December 11,2006 at Asian Games in Doha.Li sailed into the semifinals.[Xinhua]

Top seed Li Na of China, who revenged the team event wobble by ousting nemesis Iroda Tulyaganova from Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals, will face fourth seed Sania Mirza from India while second-seeded fellow Chinese Zheng Jie meets Aiko Nakamura, who is seeded third at the December 4-14 tournament.

Li, who blushed in China's first team clash against Uzbekistan losing a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 battle to Tulyaganova in second singles on December 5, rallied from one set down to overcome defending champion Tulyaganova 3-6, 7-5 and 6-2.

"I played OK. I was a bit tired after playing too much tennis yesterday. Iroda was using top spin a lot, and she was serving well. So after losing the first set, I told myself I can do it and I hung on," said Li.

Tulyaganova reached a career-high No. 16 in 2002. A serious elbow injury kept her sidelined for several years before she made a comeback earlier this year.

While Mirza enjoyed a comfortable win when she beat Suchanun Viratprasert from Thailand 6-3, 6-2, the 33rd-ranked Zheng combated off some dicey moments before coming back from one set down to score a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over 17-year-old Chan Yung Jan from Chinese Taipei in two hours and 16 minutes.

"It was tough today. She is still young but played aggressive tennis. It was important for me to win as I really wanted to be in the semifinals," said Zheng, who had gleaned two singles WTA titles at Estoril, Portugal and Stockholm, Sweden in 2006.

Her semifinal opponent Nakamura claimed an easy win over Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who retired from their quarterfinal match due to an ankle injury.