China's maverick Peng Shuai rocked home fans at the China Open yesterday by upseting fifth seed Martina Hingis in a stunning second-round upset.

The 21-year-old from Tianjin defeated the Swiss Miss 7-5, 6-1 in the eagerly awaited evening encounter.

"I am surprised by myself," said Peng, who lost to Hingis 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in their first clash at the US Open last year.

"I am really emotional playing in front of my fans and family, and beating such a great player is a big thing in my life."
Putting the past defeat behind her, Peng imposed her game on the experienced 26-year-old's, who made her first appearance in Tier II Beijing stop.

After exchanging games to tie the match at 5-5, the home star broke serve before pocketing the first set with a forehand winner on the baseline.

In the second set Peng took full command by breaking serve twice to wrap up the match in 79 minutes.

"I know she is very smart player so I just speeded up my ball to push her," Peng said.

"I was very nervous right into the match, but when I hung on in the first set and exchanged serve with her, I started to feel relaxed and I knew the pressure was on her side. "I try to run as fast I can, it helps me to hit in full strength from the baseline."

"The victory gave me a lot of confidence and I hope this is a good start for me in the rest of the season."

Hingis was disappointed but admitted Peng deserved the win.

"Peng definitely played high-quality and solid tennis," she said.

"She hit the ball very hard and I am surprised that she didn't make any mistakes.

"She played more consistent tennis than she did at the US Open last year; today, she served so well and aced me a few times in the crucial points.

"But I lost my serve, the biggest weapon of my game, and other parts of my game fell apart in the second set."

Peng will next face Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, who beat Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-2, 6-2.

The former world No. 1 launched a sound return to the Tour after a two-month absence and was delighted just to get through her opening encounter.

"I thought it was an okay match," said Mauresmo, who lost to Kuznetsova in last year's final.

"It was definitely not the best tennis I've ever played but considering I have had a couple of months off—and a month and a half without touching a racket—I'm just glad to come out of the court a winner today."

Earlier yesterday, Lindsay Davenport had no problem adjusting to the pace of international tennis after a year away by outclassing Julie Ditty 6-0, 6-2 in her first-round match.

The three-time grand slam champion retired after last year's China Open but returned with a tournament victory in Bali last weekend, just three months after giving birth to her son Jagger.

"I'm happy that my first match was quite easy so that I have a rest," Davenport said.

"I did feel tired after flying here from Bali."

But bad news emerged amid the cheering as top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled out of the tournament with an abdominal injury.

The world No. 2 made it into the US Open final and led Russia to victory in the Fed Cup in the past two weekends before arriving in Beijing to defend the title she won last year.

(China Daily September 20, 2007)