China crash out of women’s team tennis
DOHA, Dec 5: China's heavily fancied Li Na and Zheng Jie crashed Tuesday against Uzbekistan to send their country out of the Asian Games women's team tournament. Li, ranked 21 in the world, fell 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to Iroda Tulyaganova while Zheng also slumped in three sets to Akgul Amanmuradova.
It left the Uzbek girls stunned.
“This is one of the best matches I've ever won because she is a very good player and she has good results in singles and doubles and she is a Grand Slam winner,” said Tulyaganova, the defending singles champion.
“It is one of my best wins and I'm happy I could do it, especially here at the Asian Games.”Tulyaganova cashed in on Li's wayward forehand.
Mirza beat Thai stalwart Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-3 but said it was harder than the score suggested.
“The match was closer than the scores suggest,” she said. “I'm playing my best tennis at the moment.”In the other women's quarter-final Tuesday, Taiwan beat Kuwait.—AFP