? ?
Sports / China
Chinese champ pushes big seed at China Open
By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-12 10:14
China's national champion Zeng Shaoxuan walked off court with his head
held high despite losing to defending champion Marcos Baghdatis at the
China Open on Tuesday.
China's Zeng Shaoxuan returns the ball during his game against Marcos
Baghdatis of Cyprus during the 2007 China Open yesterday in Beijing.
[Xinhua]
The 26-year-old local qualifier, competing in his first second-round
match at an ATP tournament, pushed the Cypriot hard before conceding 7-6
(7/3), 7-5.
"I played at my highest level," Zeng said after the match.
"I didn't give myself any pressure, and I just try to play aggressive and
go to the net as much as possible.
"I think my tactics paid off as I kept on pushing him and had a lot of
winners from the net."
The third-seeded Baghdatis, who won his first ATP title here last year,
is ranked some 700 spots higher than his opponent, but the match was not
as lop-sided as the ratings gap suggests.
In front of 3,000 home fans crowd, Zeng hung on at 3-3 after exchanging
breaking serves with his more fancied opponent in the first set.
He opted for an all-out serve-and-volley attack that made Baghdatis
uncomfortable under the constant pressure.
The 26-year-old from Jiangsu rallied from triple breakpoint down in the
tenth game to hold and pull even; then seized a 6-5 lead as the drama
built. But in the tiebreak Zeng opened the door to Baghdatis with five
consecutive unforced errors.
Baghdatis didn't let the chance slip away as he closed out the first set
with a deft cross-court drive that had Zeng diving in vain.
Zeng bounced back in the second set and managed to improve his returns,
which helped him break serve twice to tie the score 5-5. But Baghdatis'
greater weight of shot and power serving proved too much for Zeng in
crucial points.
Having broken serve to lead 6-5, the world No. 18 set up his first match
point with a thumping cross-court forehand and then wrapped up the
one-hour and 48-minute match as Zeng hit a backhand into the net.
"It's a pity that I held some chances but failed to convert them to win,"
said a disappointed Zeng. "If I was given a bit of luck, maybe the result
would be different."
His performance won high praise from his opponent.
"It's a tough match," said Baghdatis. "He played really good, and gave me
a hard time. I don't know how he played before, but tonight he was pretty
impressive."
Having enjoyed a miraculous rise this season when he soared to No 8, the
Cypriot is looking to reprise his 2006 Australian Open form to make a
splash in Grand Slam events.
But there won't be any easy clashes for him in Beijing as he is expected
to face former world No 3 Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinals and world No
8 Tommy Robredo in the semis.
Earlier yesterday, Ljubicic, seeking redemption from his third-round exit
last week at Flushing Meadows, out muscled Japanese hopeful Kei Nishikori
6-3, 6-4.
Top Sports News ?
* Brazil break duck with Robinho hat-trick
* China coach tries to save job in Asian Cup
* NFL hopes its game doesn't get lost in translation in China
* Late starters face uphill task in China
* LA Galaxy to present Beckham on July 13
Today's Top News ?
* Abe's quit won't affect bilateral ties much - experts
* 1M babies with deformities born a year
* Powerful quake kills 5 in Indonesia
* Putin names surprise nominee for PM
* Quake triggers tsunami in Indonesia
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
Learn Chinese, Learning Chinese, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet
No comments:
Post a Comment