Chinese woman Peng eliminates Dementieva
Chinese woman Peng eliminates Dementieva
By Jerry Magee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 3, 2005
CARLSBAD – She is Chinese, but inscrutable, she is not. After removing Elena
Dementieva from the Acura Classic yesterday, Shuai Peng couldn't seem to stop
giggling.
What a kick, that at the La Costa Resort and Spa she had eliminated the No. 3
seed 7-5, 6-4. When somebody asked her how she had done it, she broke up and
was giggling so hard she had to cover her mouth with one of her hands.
Her sense of humor aside, Peng, 18, has to be taken seriously. The 18-year-old
from Tainjin had been building toward a triumph of this sort, gaining the
semifinals of the Sydney Open, taking Justine Henin-Hardenne to three sets
at Charleston and extending Lindsay Davenport to a third set at the French Open
. Now she is in the third round of the Acura and pointed, it would seem, toward
a quarterfinals get-together with Kim Clijsters.
Peng's advance came on an afternoon and evening when players of nations not
customarily associated with tennis were demonstrating that Russia is not the
only place being represented in this $1.3 million cotillion. One was Peng.
Another was Sania Mirza, a comer from India who got past Tathiana Garbin.
Peng speaks enough English to explain how she bested Dementieva. "I play her
backhand," said the Chinese woman. "Give me more chance to pass ball."
With Peng during her postmatch interview was Mr. Ma, Peng's coach. His first
name is Alan. Ma said Peng and Dementieva practice together frequently, thus
Peng was familiar with the Russian's game. Ma said he can envision the day when
China will be prominent worldwide in tennis.
"I really hope so," he said. "They have all the good people involved. They
understand what it takes. The main thing is motivation – to understand what it
takes."
Before Peng played at Stanford last week, losing to Eveta Benesova of the Czech
Republic in the opening round 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), she had not competed in two
months. She did not play at Wimbledon because the event coincided with the
holding of the Chinese National Olympics, which are held every four years. "A
very, very big deal," Ma said.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 202.175.54.206
Asiantennis 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
