SPORTS> Tennis
Chinese pair eliminated by Williams sisters
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-11 10:14

The Chinese doubles team of Zheng Jie and Yan Zi remained upbeat on Wednesday despite losing to the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

"We have no regrets losing to them," said Zheng. "I think if they lost to us, they would be very regretful. Actually, we enjoyed ourselves to the full while playing them."

The Chinese women were thrashed by the Williamses, 6-0, 6-0, the last time they crossed paths - at Wimbledon this year, but were far more competitive this time around.

"We had some opportunities today and we improved a lot in returns of serves and baseline play but we are still weak in serves," Zheng said. "The Williams sister are very keen and active during the match and Serena is much more focused than before."

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Their loss concluded China's participation at the US Open. In singles, the country's No 1 player, Li Na, was beaten by Belgium's Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals while Zheng failed to break her US Open jinx as she lost 6-4, 6-1 to Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round.

"I'm satisfied with my overall performance in the tournament - I performed at my normal level," said Zheng. "I feel no disappointment with the losses because I'm not as skilled as my opponents. As for improvements, I think my strength is better and I'm not scared of opponents with strong bodies - physically and mentally."