China's current women's tennis No. 1 has said she is in no hurry to eclipse her compatriot's record world ranking, fearing it could distract her attention a second time.

Zheng Jie of China serves against Serena Williams of U.S. during their match at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida March 30, 2009.[Xinhua/Reuters]

Zheng Jie, who just lost to world No 1 Serena Williams in a three-set tussle on Monday in the fourth-round at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, managed to hang onto her No-17 ranking, a single spot lower than Li Na in Jan 2007.

Many Chinese fans believe the 26-year-old Sichuan native has a dream chance to break Li's record in the coming pre-French Open clay court tournaments, given her past consistent performances on the orange surface.

However, Zheng remains cautious about any expectations.

"I do not have a certain goal on the rankings," Zheng said via telephone from Miami. "I hope I can make it into the world top 15, but I won't push myself too far to achieve it.

"It does not help at all if you think too much about the rankings."

Zheng learnt a lesson in the previous tournament at Indian Wells, where she was upset by Russian Vera Dushevina in straight sets after a first-round bye. It was the first time Zheng had failed to register a win at any tournament in the Sony Ericsson WTA tour this season.

"Frankly speaking, I was thinking too much in India Wells about rankings," Zheng confessed. "I wished I could reach higher rankings there but obviously it influenced my performance."

The petite player is grateful her comeback from an ankle injury has been so successful after it sidelined her for six months in 2007.

In the 2008 season, Zheng lifted her rankings from just outside the top 200 to the year-end ranking of 25, making history for Chinese tennis by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals and grabbing a doubles bronze medal at last August's Beijing Olympics.

"Reaching No 17 is already a big accomplishment and totally beyond my expectations," Zheng said.

"I feel blessed I am able to come back from injury and play even better than before."

Her ankle injury, she says, helped renew her love for the game.

"I realized how much I like tennis during the injury time. It touched me deeply and made me cherish the opportunities in life more.

"I want to play as long as possible and do my best so that I won't have any regrets after retiring."

No matter how modest she is, Zheng won't give up a real opportunity to vault over Czech No 16 Dominika Cibulkova, who is very close to her in the rankings, in the coming month.

"If you are not moving forward, in some level, you are moving backwards," Zheng said.

As for the doubles, in which she has won two grand slam titles, Zheng and long-time partner Yan Zi haven't registered any notable wins since leaving the state-run system, along with Li and Peng Shuai, to became self-managed players at the end of last year. Each of the four players now has her own coaches, schedules and management and spend much less time together.

"This is a very difficult time for us because a lot of things have changed. We need time to get use to it," Zheng said. "I hope we can get back in form as soon as possible."

(China Daily April 1, 2009)