China’s Zheng Jie, was finally eliminated from the Wimbledon’s women’s singles tennis yesterday, losing to #6 Serena Williams (USA). This was following a historic run that saw her upsetting top seeded Ana Ivanovic‘s (Serbia) in Round 3 and defeating #18 Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) in Tuesday’s Quarter-Finals. Ranked #133 in the world, she entered the prestigious event as a wild card and became the first Chinese player to break into the Semi-Finals.
The Chengdu native’s surprise performance captivated a nation, known more for table tennis, as Chinese around the country tuned into late-night live broadcasts both on TV and on their computers. I watched the repeatedly rain-interrupted game on the computer last night. I probably would’ve gotten this up earlier had I not immediately gone to sleep, disappointed as I was by Zheng Jie losing the tie-breaker to Serena…with an anti-climactic double-fault. Dammit. Bursting with pride, China Daily even has a poll up today asking if Zheng will win a medal at August’s Olympic Games.
In the news:
- Zheng Jie granted Wimbledon Open wildcard
- Zheng Jie beats top-seeded Ana Ivanovic at Wimbledon
- Zheng makes history, to help quake-hit hometown
- Zheng misses tie-breaker and Wimbledon final
