The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sun Tiantian meets Serena next

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 21, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Sun Tiantian meets Serena next

BEIJING: China's Sun Tiantian had the home fans cheering as she advanced to the second round of the China Open on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Russia's Tatiana Panova.

Sun will next face Serena Williams, last year's China Open champion.

``Playing against a player among the world top 10 is a good opportunity for me to learn,'' Sun told reporters, adding that she nonetheless held out hope of an upset. ``Never say die,'' she said.

Another Chinese player, Peng Shuai, breezed past Finland's Emma Laine, 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the second round as well.

``At the beginning of the match, the tenseness of the game made me nervous before it was halted by rain after two games into the match,'' said Peng, whose giant-killing run brought down second seed Anastasia Myskina and fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova to reach her first career Tour semifinals as a qualifier in Sydney last January and to jump 32 spots in WTA rankings to a career-best number 48.

A month ago, the 19-year-old reached her first career Tier I semifinals at San Diego, defeating No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva and winning over Dinara Safina as well as seventh seed Kim Clijsters before losing to No.6 seed Pierce.

Top seeds Venus and Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova take to the court later this week. All three have first round byes, putting them directly into the second round.

Pennetta ousted

Also on Tuesday, qualifier Aiko Nakamura of Japan upset the No. 8 seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives rallied to beat Russia's Alina Jidkova 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(5). Another Russian, Maria Kirilenko eased past Jamea Jackson of the United States 7-5, 7-5.

And, Jill Craybas of the United States dropped a set on her way to victory over China's Li Na 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

Play at the Beijing Tennis Center was interrupted for several hours during the afternoon due to rain.

The results: (WTA China Open): First round: Aiko Nakamura bt Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Nuria Llagostera Vives bt Alina Jidkova 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(5); Sun Tiantian bt Tatiana Panova 6-3, 6-4; Jill Craybas bt Li Na 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5; Maria Kirilenko bt Jamea Jackson 7-5, 7-5; Peng Shuai bt Emma Laine 6-1, 6-1. — Agencies

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