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China’s Zheng Jie believes the surprise success of Asia’s women at Wimbledon can carry on beyond the quarter-finals.
Zheng and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn both reached the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time today to continue their ground-breaking success at the All England Club.
Zheng’s clinical 6-3 6-4 victory over Hungarian 15th seed Agnes Szavay saw her join Li Na as the only Chinese woman to make it to a Grand Slam quarter-final.
The 24-year-old doubles specialist had knocked out world number one and French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in the previous round.
Tamarine’s win was even more historic. She became the first Thai to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final by thrashing Serb second seed Jelana Jankovic 6-3, 6-2.
After such a fairytale run, it would be easy for the two close friends to rest on their laurels, especially Tamarine who faces defending champion Venus Williams next.
But Zheng, who plays Czech 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova, sees no reason why they shouldn’t reach the semi-finals.
“I think it’s the first time two Asians are in the quarter-finals,” Zheng said. “We’re playing very good tennis. For me she (Tamarine) is a good friend. We’re still together and we can keep going.”
Tamarine was quick to return the compliment. She congratulated Zheng on her win and admitted their success was a massive boost for Asian tennis.
“Zheng Jie is one of my great friends. She’s very nice. It’s great for her to make this quarter-final and beat the number one in the world,” Tamarine said.
“I think it’s great for Asia that we can provide great tennis. This is how women’s tennis is. You don’t have to be like six feet tall to do well.
“It’s good that me and Zheng are doing well here and showing Asians can do well. It’s good for Asians to come this far, yeah.”
At 133rd in the world, Zheng is the lowest ranked player left in the women’s singles. Her only previous experience of playing in the second week of a Grand Slam was at the French Open in 2004 when she lost in the fourth round, so this is uncharted territory.
But she won’t suffer from an inferiority complex against Vaidisova judging by her glowing assessment of the victory over Szavay.
“I didn’t know how I would get to the quarter-final because every opponent was very stronger,” said the wildcard.
“But I feel I just played so well today. I just gave her the forehand more because her backhand is unbelievably good.
“I feel today is the best tennis for me. I feel I had the stronger mentality and every ball I was fighting.
“I wanted to win match too much because it was a good chance to be in the quarter-final for the first time.”
With the Beijing Olympics looming on the horizon in August, Zheng has found form at the perfect moment.
She will return to China to begin preparations for the Games as soon as Wimbledon is over, but for now even Olympic gold takes second place to the chance for success here.
“Of course the Olympics in China is very important. Everyone wants to win a gold medal,” she said. “But many good players come for play the Olympics this year. I just want to keep going and try my best at Wimbledon.”
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