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China gets perfect New Year present with first-ever Grand Slam success
2006-01-27
China's Yan Zi and Zheng Jie have won the country's first-ever Grand Slam title, grinding down top seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur to take the Australian Open women's doubles title. It was a sterling come-from-behind victory by the 12th seeds and the perfect Chinese New Year present for a country considered by many to be the future of tennis. They had looked out for the count after losing confidence to see the first set slip away in 41 minutes, but regrouped and regained composure to take the second set on a tiebreak, saving two championship points. The Sichuan natives doggedly held on to win the third set for a memorable 2-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 victory in 2hr 15mins. "We feel very excited and very happy," said Yan in halting English. "We were a little bit nervous, it was our first time on centre court and it was so big, and so many people. We just tried our best. "It will be good for Chinese tennis," added Yan, saying it would have a stimulating effect. "In the near future, I think we could be better, make progress, improve a lot." It was the first time anyone from China has won a Grand Slam final in any discipline and capped a breakthrough 12 months in which Yan and Zheng won two other doubles championships, at Hobart and Hyderabad last year. They reached the semi-final or better at seven tour events last year, cementing China's growing reputation as a tennis force following Sun Tiantian and Li Ting's historic Olympic doubles gold at Athens in 2004. Along with Sun and Li, Yan and Zheng, who began playing together in Shanghai in 2001, are rising stars, and not just on the doubles circuit. Each of them won a Tour singles title last year. It is a result of the Chinese tennis federation, which for years focused on domestic competitions, taking halting steps to open up, bringing in foreign coaches for short-term stints which has benefitted its players. On Sunday, China and Australia signed an agreement that will involve Chinese tennis players being trained Down Under as part of the drive to develop the sport even further in China. "There's so many Chinese girls now. When I first started playing, I couldn't name one, you know, 10, 12 years ago," said Raymond. "Now there's, I don't know how many were in the main draw here, but obviously they have two very good doubles teams now." There were early indications that the 12th seeds could cause an upset, breaking service in the first game and holding for a 2-0 lead. But their confidence crumbled, losing eight straight games to lose the first set and be 2-0 down in the second set and facing the prospect of an early end to the match. American Raymond and Stosur, an Australian, were proving to be a brick wall, bouncing everything back that was thrown at them but as the rain battered the roof of the Rod Laver Arena, the Chinese women refound their touch. They held serve and then broke to even it up at 3-3. They held serve for a 4-3 lead and it went with serve until Zheng was broken to put Raymond and Stosur 6-5 up. Raymond, who has won 50 doubles titles, was odds-on to serve out for the match but she buckled to give Zheng and Yan a glimmer of hope that they grabbed, saving two championship points in the tiebreak to take it to a third set. Raymond and Stosur were sapped of confidence and couldn't come back as the Chinese pair raced their country's greatest-ever tennis success.
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