Off the wire
• Yanbian fans witnesses return of former Chinese football King  • WTA Zhuhai Elite Trophy tennis results  • Overnight stays in Swiss hotels drop to 3.4 mln in Sept.  • Emirates Airline reports record 65 pct surge in net profit  • Eight injured, 20 detained in clashes between Serbs, Croatians at Athens airport  • Eurozone retail trade down 0.1 pct in Sept.  • Across China: Bringing love and hope to sick, abandoned children  • France to send aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to fight IS  • Philippines, Indonesia agree to review pacts on border crossing, patrol  • EU discusses cooperation with Pakistan on managing refugee flow  
You are here: 　 Home

China's Zheng can be future champion, says V. Williams

Xinhua, November 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams spoke highly of Chinese player Zheng Saisai, saying she has what it takes to become a future champion.

   Williams battled back from a set down to defeat Chinese No. 1 Zheng on Thursday and became the first player into the semifinals of the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. 

   Williams had to dig deep after Zheng, a wildcard into the draw, put on a dazzling display of aggressive tennis to take the first set. 

   The Chinese WTA rising star stormed out to a 5-1 lead with some impressive shotmaking, allowing Williams to catch up to 5-4 before finally closing the opening frame out after 44 minutes.

   "You could see that she played amazing and she really is a future champion," Williams said of Zheng. "First set, wow, she played so well until the last point. She definitely deserved to get the wildcard into this tournament -- she has a lot of talent and there are definitely great things for her in the future."

   Zheng was looking for the best win of her career against the world No. 11 -- to date her best victory came against a No. 14-ranked Jelena Jankovic at the Tianjin Open last year. She's pushed top 20 players to three sets three other times now too -- Sara Errani, Lucie Safarova and now Williams.

   "I don't know how much more she could improve on today, she played like a player who belongs in this tournament, who was in the top 20," the American added. "The only way I think she can improve is just to continue to get more experience and have these moments, to get comfortable in these moments."  Endi