China Grabs Asiad Team Tennis Crown
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Wimbledon semifinalist Li Na led host China to capture the team tennis title on Tuesday at the Asian Games.
Li, currently world number 11, thumped her Chinese Taipei opponent Chan Yung Jan 6-2, 6-1 in the singles.
After bustling into a 6-2 lead, the Chinese top favourite rolled on in the second set with her powerful baseline shots and accurate hits, and finished 6-1 past the Chinese Taipei top seed.
Li's triumph was joined by her teammate Peng Shuai, who defeated Chinese Taipei's Chang Kai Chen 6-3, 7-5 in another singles.
Peng, world 72th ranked, broke Chang's serves four times in the second set, and claimed victory in one hour and 43 minutes.
"I felt extremely nervous this morning because I was too eager for the victory," Peng told reporters. "It was the first time in my life that I rely totally on high shots to win."
"Actually I was not back to my best shape today. But home crowds offered me a lot of strength while I was on the court," said the glamour girl, whose knee injury caused her absent from this year's Australian and French Opens, and pulled out of the U.S. Open midway.
With a 2-0 advance in the three team events consisting of two singles and one doubles, top seed China already pocketed the women team gold even ahead of the final doubles.
Chinese duo Yan Zi and Zhuang Shuai are scheduled to meet Doha silver medallist Chuang Chia Jung and her pair Hsieh Suwei in the doubles.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2010)