The Chinese contingent failed to repeat last year's miracles at the Australian Open in Melbourne, but the mood in the camp remains upbeat.

China's interest in the Open ended yesterday when defending doubles champions and second seeds Zheng Jie and Yan Zi lost their semifinal to Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung 6-3, 6-4.

Six Chinese women entered the singles draw but Li Na stood alone after the second round, solidifying her position as the country's top player.

Coached by her husband Jiang Shan, Li knocked out Russian ninth seed Dinara Safina before being out-fought and out-thought by three-time champion Martina Hingis 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the fourth round.

Li's performance created a buzz in Melbourne, and she has risen to 16 in the rankings. Her combative also approach impressed Hingis.

"I think she had a great season last year where she made her breakthrough," she said. "Also mentally I think she started believing after that a little bit more.  A lot of times confidence makes you know you belong in the top group, in the elite, and you can make it in the crucial times. I think that's another step which she made."

Doubles again looked like the likeliest route to victory, with new pair Sun Shengnan and Sun Tiantian emerging as a dangerous combination.

After agonizing over whether to split Sun Tiantian and Li Ting, who claimed gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004, the Suns' sparkling play vindicated the decision as they reached the quarterfinals. The pair could well be the country's second doubles gold potential at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, although this is yet to be confirmed.

The Suns stunned US Open champions Nathalie Dechy of France and Russian Vera Zvonareva before losing to Zheng and Yan in an all-China quarterfinal clash.

The country's tennis officials praised the pair.

"They were so much better than we expected," said CTA vice-president Gao Shenyang. "We will decide whether to let them compete in the Olympics in the coming two months."

In the singles, the performances of Zheng Jie, Yuan Meng and Sun Tiantian disappointed, with none of them reaching the second round, while in the doubles the duo of Li Na-Peng Shuai was knocked out in round two.

For the other survivors of the tournaments, Roger Federer crushed Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in just 83 minutes to book his seventh consecutive Grand Slam final as Serena Williams beat Czech tenth seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to make a women's single final date with Maria Sharapova, who rode roughshod over tournament favorite Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-2, drawing the curtain on the Belgian's final Australian adventure. 

(China Daily January 26, 2007)