You are here: Home

China's Peng stuns top seed to through to Asiad tennis final

: 0 Comments Print E-mail Xinhua, November 21, 2010

Adjust font size:

China's top tennis favourite Peng Shuai brushed off fatigue from ten consecutive matches over past eight days, thumping top seed Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 on Sunday to through to the women's singles tennis final in the Asian Games.

Peng, ranked 72nd in the world, bustled into a 5-2 lead in the first set but appeared to lose her cool over the time Krumm was taking between serves.

The Japanese veteran fought back to level at 6-6 with wild shots and broke Peng's serve in the ninth game, but suffered a tight loss to the Chinese in the tiebreaker 8-6.

In the second set, the 40-year-old Japanese again came from behind and turned over Peng with breaks four times.

Later, Peng surged ahead for a 4-0 lead in the deciding set and sealed the match quickly, booking her place in Tuesday's final and sending Date Krumm home.

The two-and-a-half hour tight match drew thousands of spectators from both countries. Though losing the semifinal, Date Krumm, one of Japan's most successful tennis players who made her comeback at Asiad at an age of 40, won applauds and cheers from the audience with her nerves of steel.

"It is the most difficult match for me since the start of the Asian Games. I was quite familiar with Date Krumm and played with her before. She was such a tough rival to defeat," said an excited Peng after the match.

"I kept move forward and backward on the court, and held on until the last minute," she added.

Date Krumm was a little bit disappointed with her loss to Peng, but said a bronze medal was acceptable for she already tried her best.

"I knew Peng was under great pressure in front of home fans, but she scored a perfect match and controlled the rhythm of the match in the latter part," said the Japanese, who was the team gold winner and singles champion of the 1990 and 1994 Asian Games, respectively.

Date Krumm, who also fell out of the doubles semifinal as she and compatriot Ayumi Morita lost to Thai duo Nudnida Luangnam and Nicha Lertpitaksinchai on Saturday, concluded her Guangzhou tour on Sunday with a bronze in the singles.

Peng, with the hard-won victory, set up a final meeting with the winner of another semifinal between India's Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza and third-seeded Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan later on Sunday.