- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zheng.
Zheng Jie
 |
| Country |
 People's Republic of China |
| Residence |
Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China |
| Date of birth |
July 5, 1983 (1983-07-05) (age 25) |
| Place of birth |
Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China |
| Height |
1.64 m (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight |
57 kg (130 lb/9.0 st) |
| Turned pro |
16 January 2003 |
| Plays |
right; two-handed backhand |
| Career prize money |
US $2,206,673 |
| Singles |
| Career record: |
236-133 |
| Career titles: |
3 WTA, 4 ITF titles |
| Highest ranking: |
27 (14 August 2006) |
| Grand Slam results |
| Australian Open |
1R (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) |
| French Open |
4R (2004) |
| Wimbledon |
SF (2008) |
| US Open |
3R (2008) |
| Doubles |
| Career record: |
258-103 |
| Career titles: |
11 WTA, 16 ITF titles |
| Highest ranking: |
3 (10 July 2006) |
| Grand Slam doubles results |
| Australian Open |
W (2006) |
| French Open |
SF (2006) |
| Wimbledon |
W (2006) |
| US Open |
QF (2005, 2006) |
|
Infobox last updated on: 27 August 2008.
|
Zheng Jie (simplified Chinese: 郑洁; traditional Chinese: 鄭潔; pinyin: Zhèng Jié; born 5 July 1983) is a Chinese professional female tennis player. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan province. She made her WTA rankings debut in 2000. She turned professional in 2003 and ended the year for the first time in the top 100.citation needed As of 25 August 2008, she is ranked world number 37, making her China's second highest-ranked women's singles player behind Li Na, who is ranked 36.[1]
At Wimbledon in 2008, Zheng gained recognition by becoming the first Chinese player ever to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament, defeating world number one Ana Ivanovic en route [2]. She donated her winnings to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, in her native province. She has won three career WTA singles titles: Hobart in 2005, Estoril, Portugal and Stockholm in 2006. She also has won eleven WTA doubles titles, all with Yan Zi, including Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Zheng Jie and her partner Yan Zi won the bronze medal in women's tennis doubles, the second time China has ever won an Olympics tennis medal.
Singles career
2002
In May 2002, she won two successive $25,000 ITF singles tournaments, at Shanghai and Tianjin, right after reaching her first $50,000 tournament quarterfinal, at Fukuoka, Japan.[3] That September, she gained direct entry into a WTA tournament at Shanghai, and reached Round Two before losing to Anna Kournikova.[2] She ended the year as World No. 183.[4]
2003
In 2003, she qualified for Hyderabad and took a love set against Mary Pierce in the main draw first round, only to lose the match in three. She also qualified for Doha, but then lost to Lina Krasnoroutskaya.[5]
Later in the year, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round of a $25,000 ITF tournament, Alyona Bondarenko in the first round of qualifying for Palermo, and Maria-Elena Camerin at another $50,000 ITF event in July, where she reached the quarter-final; but it was in August at Bronx that she won her first $50,000 tournament, beating a cast of future stars in the forms of Shenay Perry, Jamea Jackson, Akiko Morigami, Adriana Serra Zanetti and (in the final) Maria Kirilenko to this end.[5]
Although Kirilenko avenged this defeat in qualifying at the U.S. Open, Zheng proceeded to qualify for Bali in September with crushing victories over Yan Zi and Yuka Yoshida, then vanquished Flavia Pennetta 6–3 6–2 in the first round of the main draw before bowing out to Tamarine Tanasugarn.[5]
However, the very next month she defeated Tanasugarn at the Japan Open,[5] where she reached her first WTA semi-final before losing to Maria Sharapova.[2]
At the end of October, she reached another WTA quarter-final at Quebec City with a second-round win over Antonella Serra Zanetti[5] before losing in three sets to Laura Granville.[2]
In December, she was a losing finalist at two successive $50,000 tournaments, falling in three sets to countrywoman Peng Shuai at Changsha (after victories over Sesil Karatantcheva, Camille Pin and Aiko Nakamura)[5] and, also in three sets, to the same Sesil Karatantcheva (after beating Sun Tiantian in the semi-final) at Shenzhen.[5] These impressive results catapulted Zheng into the World Top 100, bringing her a year-end ranking of 93.[4]
2004
The following year brought further improvements in her singles results. She reached the quarter-finals at Hyderabad and Doha (where she comfortably beat Jelena Dokic in Round Two),[6] and the second round at Miami and Vienna (where she beat Lisa Raymond 6–3 6–2).[6] Then at the French Open, playing only her second Grand Slam singles main draw (after gaining direct entry to the Australian Open but losing in the first round), she defeated Dally Randriantefy, Emilie Loit and Tathiana Garbin in succession to reach the fourth round, where she lost to Paola Suarez in two close sets, 4–6 5–7.[7] She was the first Chinese women to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam.[2]
At the Olympics in Athens, she lost 6–8 in the final set of her first round match to Ai Sugiyama despite taking the first set 6–4.[8] In September, she won a $25,000 ITF tournament at Beijing, defeating Yan Zi in the semi-final and Li Na in the final.[6] But it was another of her countrywomen, Peng Shuai, who stopped her at the final hurdle in a $50,000 tournament at Shenzhen late that November, although she had impressively conquered Yan Zi again in the semi-final, the latter having accounted for Li Na in the quarter-final stage.[6] Zheng ended the year world-ranked 67.[4]
2005
In 2005, she began the year with a flourish by capturing her first WTA singles title at Hobart,[4] after wins over some highly capable players, namely Mariana Diaz-Oliva, Shinobu Asagoe, Klara Koukalova, Li Na and Gisela Dulko.[9]
She qualified for Dubai with wins over Sandra Kleinova, Maria-Elena Camerin and Virginia Ruano-Pascual, and went on to defeat Anabel Medina Garrigues in the main draw before succumbing to Lindsay Davenport.[9] Dulko gained her revenge in the quarter-final at Estoril in April.[9]
But Zheng remained in fine form, and reached the her second WTA final at Rabat, Morocco in May, losing to Nuria Llagostera Vives[4] after wins over Catalina Castano, Maureen Drake and Tathiana Garbin,[9] followed by a walk-over against Na Li who had to retire at 3–3 from an ankle sprain.citation needed
A three-set loss to Francesca Schiavone in the first round of the French Open prevented Zheng from defending her ranking points accrued there the previous year.[9] But she recovered to record several more impressive results in August, reaching the second round at Los Angeles by again beating Shinobu Asagoe, the Canadian Open quarter-final (with wins over Maria-Emilia Salerni and Ai Sugiyama), and another quarter-final at New Haven (after defeating Katarina Srebotnik and Emilie Loit in qualifying, and Jamea Jackson in the main draw, though she was assisted by entering the tournament with a first-round bye and as a lucky loser in the final-round of qualifying to Jelena Kostanic).[9]
At the end of the month, she advanced to the second round at the U.S. Open by defeating Iveta Benesova.[9] Further impressive first-round wins in September over Maria Vento-Kabchi (at Bali) and Jelena Janković (at Beijing) could not be consolidated on in subsequent rounds of the respective tournaments;[9] but at Guangzhou, the last tournament she would play all year, she reached the semi-final with wins over Carly Gullickson, Jamea Jackson and Maria Kirilenko,[9] before suffering her second loss of the year to Nuria Llagostera Vives.[4] This string of results lifted her to a career-high world ranking of 42 in early October 2005.[2]
2006
2006 started poorly for Zheng in singles, with a string of six[10] successive first-round losses dipping her world ranking to 56 by the end of February. However, after a first round loss in Indian Wells, her 2006 singles breakthrough came at Miami where she reached the quarter-finals with wins over Nathalie Dechy and Anna-Lena Groenefeld before falling to Tatiana Golovin in three sets, 6–3 3–6 2–6.[10]
Zheng's new found confidence earned a title at her next tournament in Estoril, where she defeated number one seed Flavia Pennetta en route to the final[10] before a victory over compatriot Na Li whom was forced to retire at one set a piece.[4] Successful results continued in Berlin, where only an in-form Nadia Petrova stopped her from reaching the quarter finals. The Russian 2nd seed took the match 7–6 4–6 6–4.[10] In Strasbourg, Zheng displayed yet more fine form to reach the quarter finals, where she put up a spirited challenge against the 2nd seed Czech Nicole Vaidišová, who eventually prevailed 6–4 4–6 6–2.[10]
In August, Zheng blasted through the Stockholm draw, clinching her second title of the season without dropping a set. In the final, she defeated the top seed and former world number two Anastasia Myskina 6–4 6–1. The win over Myskina avenged Zheng's tough three set loss to the Russian at the start of the season.[10] Another impressive appearance was recorded in Montreal where she fell to eventual champion, Ana Ivanović. Despite Ivanović being in very good shape, it took her three sets to win her second round match against Zheng with the final score being 6–4 6–7 6–2.[10] A knee injury hampered Zheng's singles progess towards the end of 2006. Her US Open ended in a disappointing 2nd round defeat to Anastassia Rodionova and her last competitive match of the season saw her worst loss in terms of rankings, where she fell in the second round of Zurich qualifying to then 139th ranked Joanna Sacowicz of Poland.[11]
However, in December, Zheng took part in the Asian Games in Doha. After a surprising first round loss in the team event, she went into the singles competition as the second seed. Recording victories over Shikha Uberoi, Yung Jan Chan, Aiko Nakamura and a resurgent Sania Mirza (6–4 1–6 6–1), she claimed the gold medal. She also took gold in doubles with partner Yan Zi, winning 6–1 7–6 against Yung Jan Chan and Chia Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei. To end 2006 on an additional high, Zheng won the Chinese National Championships, with a three set victory over her doubles partner in the final.
2007
2007 started well for Zheng, where she reached a second Hobart quarter final, recording solid victories over qualifier Stephanie Foretz and Severine Bremond of France. After taking the first set against rising Russian Anna Chakvetadze, Zheng only managed another two games with the match ending 4–6 6–1 6–1. Chakvetadze would then go on to win the tournament.[2]
At the Australian Open, Zheng put in an extremely disappointing performance, losing to then 97th ranked Julia Schruff of Germany 4–6 7–6 6–4 after holding match point on more than one occasion.[12] In doubles, her title defense with Yan Zi began in style, as the pair reeled off two consecutive straight sets wins for the loss of only 3 games. Their third round encounter against Elena Dementieva and Flavia Pennetta proved more difficult, but after squandering the first set they managed to dominate for an eventual 4–6 6–1 6–2 victory. A quarter final match up against a Chinese sister act was won in straight sets, before Jie Zheng and Zi Yan fell in the semi-finals to Yung Jan Chan and Chia Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei - the same partnership which they managed to defeat easily in the final of the Doha Asian Games just 1 month previously.
In her next event in Tokyo (tier I), Zheng looks good in her first round, winning against qualifier Bethanie Mattek 6–2 6–1. However, in the next round, she suffered a heavy 6–4 6–0 defeat to Serbia's Jelena Janković without earning a single break point.citation needed Zheng's next tournament, Indian Wells, took place more than a month after her severe loss to Janković. However, the rest time did not seem to serve her well, and after receiving a bye in the first round (as the 22nd seed), she was defeated by Belarusian qualifier Victoria Azarenka 6–3 7–5.[12]
In her next tournament, Miami (tier 1), Zheng was a defending quarter-finalist after a magnificent 2006 showing; but after receiving another first round bye, she slumped to a straight sets loss to Pole Agnieszka Radwańska,[12] seeing her ranking fall out of the top 40 for the first time since May 2006. A decent showing in Amelia Island saw Zheng back in to the top 40, as she fell to a 6–2 6–3 loss at the hands of top seed and defending champion Nadia Petrova in the third round.[12] In Charleston, Zheng again reached the third round, recording her first top 20 win of the season over Shahar Peer, perhaps overlooked due to the fact that the Israeli was suffering from a hand injury.citation needed In doubles she won the prestigious Charleston tournament with partner Yan Zi.
After just short of a month, another first round loss was on the cards for the Chinese woman in Berlin as she was defeated by Italian Maria Elena Camerin 3–6 6–3 6–4 after an impressive first set. Zheng participated in the Tier III event held in Strasbourg, France. This was her last preparation with doubles partner Yan Zi for the French Open. The Chinese duo won the event in terrific form, not dropping a set the entire week. They won their quarter-final match 6–0 6–2, the semis 6–3 6–1 and the final 6–3 6–4. Zheng competed in the both the singles and doubles (with Yan Zi) of the French Open. At the beginning of the grand slam she sustained an ankle injury, hampering her performance. She was knocked out in the first round of the singles competition by Timea Bacsinszky 7–6(3) 6–0.[12] She had no more luck in the doubles, going out to Llagostera Vives and Sanchez in the first round.
The ankle injury sustained at the French Open ruled her out of Wimbledon to defend her doubles title. She withdrew from all events for the rest of the year because of the ankle injury.[2] Her ranking suffered as a result, ending the year ranked 163 in the world.[4]
2008
Zheng Jie's return to the tour was successful; in singles, she won two qualifying matches in Gold Coast before losing to Alisa Kleybanova.[13] In doubles, she and Zi Yan reached the final, only to lose 6–1 6–2 to the third seeds, Safina and Szavay. However, in Sydney, the duo won the title, beating second seeds Sugiyama and Srebotnik and reigning US Open champions Dechy and Safina along the way. In Melbourne, the duo got off to a good start, with three easy straight set wins, and then beat the Williams sisters 3–6 6–4 6–2 in the quarterfinals to get their semifinal berth. In the semifinals, they led 6–0 5–4 40–15 against the 12th seeds Peer and Azarenka, before losing 0–6 7–5 7–6(3). They showed unbelievable fight in the third set, only to bow out to the younger players. It was a crushing defeat, as they were truly the favorites for the title at that point in time, but it was a successful return to the circuit for Jie.
Zheng's singles wasn't faring so well, but at the 2008 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells she managed to come through qualifying and then defeat the tricky Emilie Loit easily in the first round 6–0, 6–1 and then thrashed 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round 6–2, 6–4. She lost to eventual quarterfinalist and defending champion Daniela Hantuchova in the third round 6–4, 6–2.[13]
Following her impressive showing at Indian Wells, Zheng entered the main draw of a Tier I event in Key Biscayne, Miami. Zheng defeated qualifier Galina Voskoboeva then got through to the third round following 14th seed Nadia Petrova's retirement after just three games of their match. She then managed to defeat former world number one and grand slam champion Amelie Mauresmo in three tight sets to reach the fourth round, 5–7 6–4 6–4. Zheng was then defeated by world number three Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round, 6–4 7–5.[13] After this, Zheng played only 3 matches on the WTA Tour until the French Open qualifying, playing 2 in China's Fed Cup loss against Spain and 1 qualifying match for the Tier I event in Rome, which she lost handily 3–6, 2–6.
Going into the French Open qualifying, Zheng was unseeded, but managed to defeat Lucie Hradecka in three tight sets in the first round, 4–6 7–5 8–6. She then crushed Charlotte Rodier of France 6–0 6–3 to reach the final round of qualifying where she defeated Kristina Barrois of Germany in straight sets, 6–3 7–6(4), to reach the main draw of the French Open. After beating Mara Santangelo in three sets, Zheng beat the number 21-seeded Maria Kirilenko, also in three sets to reach the third round before losing to Russia's Dinara Safina in straight sets, 2–6 5–7.[13]
Despite being ranked a lowly No. 133 in the world, preventing her from directly qualifying for the Wimbledon Ladies' singles main draw, Zheng was given a wild card into the main draw, where she defeated seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova in the first round, then Great Britain's Elena Baltacha in the second. She then went on to defeat the first seed and World no.1 Ana Ivanović in the third round, dominating the match relentlessly and winning 6–1 6–4. This was her first victory against a top 10 player.[14] Zheng beat Ágnes Szávay of Hungary, the number 15 seed, 6–3, 6–4 in the fourth round, and defeated number 18 seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 6–2, 5–7, 6–1 in the quarterfinals. This was Zheng's best singles result in a grand slam tournament and made her the first Chinese women's tennis player ever to reach the semi-finals of a grand slam, surpassing the previous record of a quarter-final finish set by her compatriot Li Na at the same event in 2006. She also became the first wild card to reach the semi-finals of the ladies' singles at The Championships, Wimbledon.[15] In the semi-finals, Zheng lost to two-time Wimbledon champion and former No. 1, Serena Williams 6-2, 7-6(5). Zheng could not effectively counter Serena's extremely strong serves, but tended towards having the upper hand in rallies in the second set, and earned a set point on Serena's service at 5-6 30-40 in Zheng's favour, only to strike a risky backhand into the high part of the net following an unexceptional second serve by Serena, thus forfeiting her only chance to level the match. Zheng's strong Wimbledon performance elevated her WTA singles ranking from 133 to 40. As of her Wimbledon performance, Zheng is ranked as the highest female Chinese tennis player.
She will donate her prize money from the tournament to and spend time helping the victims and post-reconstruction effort of the May 12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people and left 5 to 10 million homeless in her home province Sichuan.[16] She did the same with her French Open prize money earlier in the year.[17]
In August 2008, Zheng competed for China in both singles and doubles at the Beijing Olympics.[18] Zheng won her first round match against 11th seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. She then defeated unseeded, ITF-placed Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain in the second round, 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4, in a three hour long epic match. Zheng eventually lost in the third round, 6–4, 6–3, to sixth seed Dinara Safina of Russia (who eventually won the singles silver medal), leaving Li Na as the only Chinese woman remaining in women's singles. Zheng had better results in doubles with her partner Yan Zi, where they were seeded eighth. After losing in the semifinals to the fourth-seeded Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-4, 7-6 (5) for a spot in the gold medal final, they won the bronze medal match against the Ukrainian sisters team of Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, 6–2, 6–2. This was the second Olympics tennis medal ever by China.
After the Olympics, Zheng entered the US Open unseeded in women's singles. In the first round, she defeated unseeded Shenay Perry of the USA, 6-2, 6-3. In the second round, she beat 26th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, 6-1, 6-4. In the third round, she lost to number two seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-5 7-5 after 11 deuces in the last game.[19]
Doubles career
The highlights of her doubles career to date have been her two Grand Slam tournament victories in 2006, detailed below:
Australian Open 2006
Wimbledon 2006
At Wimbledon, Zheng and Max Mirnyi, seeded two, reached the semifinals of the Mixed Doubles, where they were beaten by Bob Bryan and Venus Williams (who were unseeded), 7–5, 7–5. She triumphed in women's doubles with Yan Zi over Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 6–3 3–6 6–2, capturing China's first Wimbledon title. With her win, she became the first Chinese tennis player to amass over 1 million dollars in career earnings.[2] Their route to the final was so:
WTA finals (16)
Singles wins (3)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tour Championships (0) |
| Tier I Event (0) |
| Tier II Event (0) |
| Tier III Event (0) |
| Tier IV/V Event (3) |
| No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Tier |
Surface |
Opponent in the final |
Score |
| 1. |
January 14, 2005 |
Hobart, Australia |
V |
Hard |
 Gisela Dulko |
6–2, 6–0 |
| 2. |
May 7, 2006 |
Estoril, Portugal |
IV |
Clay |
Li Na |
6–7(5), 7–5, retired |
| 3. |
August 13, 2006 |
Stockholm, Sweden |
IV |
Hard |
 Anastasia Myskina |
6–4, 6–1 |
Singles runner-ups (2)
Doubles wins (11)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (2) |
| Tour Championships (0) |
| Tier I Event (2) |
| Tier II Event (2) |
| Tier III Event (2) |
| Tier IV/V Event (3) |
| No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Surface |
Partnering |
Opponents in the final |
Score |
| 1. |
January 14, 2005 |
Hobart, Australia |
Hard |
Yan Zi |
 Anabel Medina Garrigues &
Dinara Safina |
6–4, 7–5 |
| 2. |
February 12, 2005 |
Hyderabad, India |
Hard |
Yan Zi |
Li Ting &
Sun Tiantian |
6–4 6–1 |
| 3. |
January 28, 2006 |
Australian Open, Australia |
Hard |
Yan Zi |
 Lisa Raymond &
 Samantha Stosur |
2–6 7–6(7) 6–3 |
| 4. |
May 14, 2006 |
Berlin, Germany |
Clay |
Yan Zi |
Elena Dementieva &
 Flavia Pennetta |
6–2 6–3 |
| 5. |
May 21, 2006 |
Rabat, Morocco |
Clay |
Yan Zi |
Ashley Harkleroad &
Bethanie Mattek |
6–1 6–3 |
| 6. |
June 24, 2006 |
s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands |
Grass |
Yan Zi |
 Ana Ivanović &
Maria Kirilenko |
3–6 6–2 6–2 |
| 7. |
July 8, 2006 |
Wimbledon, Great Britain |
Grass |
Yan Zi |
Virginia Ruano Pascual &
Paola Suárez |
6–3 3–6 6–2 |
| 8. |
August 26, 2006 |
New Haven, USA |
Hard |
Yan Zi |
Lisa Raymond &
Samantha Stosur |
6–4 6–2 |
| 9. |
April 15, 2007 |
Charleston, USA |
Clay |
Yan Zi |
Peng Shuai &
Sun Tiantian |
7–5 6–0 |
| 10. |
May 26, 2007 |
Strasbourg, France |
Clay |
Yan Zi |
Alicia Molik &
Sun Tiantian |
6–3 6–4 |
| 11. |
January 11, 2008 |
Sydney, Australia |
Hard |
Yan Zi |
 Tatiana Perebiynis &
 Tatiana Poutchek |
6–4 7–6(5) |
ITF titles (20)
Singles (4)
-
-
- 2004 : ITF/Beijing 3
- 2003 : ITF/Bronx
- 2002 : ITF/Shanghai, ITF/Tianjin 1
Doubles (16)
-
-
- 2005 : ITF/Beijing 1
- 2004 : ITF/Shenzhen 1
- 2003 : ITF/Redding, ITF/Gorizia, ITF/Orbetello, ITF/Sedona, ITF/Paducah
- 2002 : ITF/Hull (w/Sun), ITF/Tipton, ITF/Ho Chi Minh City, ITF/Cagliari, ITF/Taranto, ITF/Maglie, ITF/Shanghai, ITF/Tianjin 1
- 2001 : ITF/Hohhot
Performance timelines
Singles performance timeline
To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
1Doha became a Tier I event in 2008. San Diego and Zurich are no longer Tier I events.
Women's Doubles performance timeline
Mixed Doubles performance timeline
Key
xR = lost in x round
SF = semifinalist
QF = quarterfinalist
F = finalist
W = won
- = did not play
NH = not held
Qx = lost in round x of qualifying
Personal
Zheng is coached by Jiang Hong Wei, China national women's tennis team head coach,[20] and her husband is Zhang Yu, who is also her hitting partner.[21]
Zheng is on the advisory staff of Yonex and uses their rackets.[22] She wears clothing by Nike and appears in their advertising campaigns.[23]
See also
References
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