China's Zheng Jie failed to break her jink as she lost 6-4, 6-1 to Nadia Petrova on Saturday in the third round of the U.S. Open.

The Russian 13th seed will next face U.S. teenager Melanie Oudin, a surprise 3-6 6-4 7-5 winner over three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova for a berth in the quarterfinals.

Petrova improved to 7-1 against Zheng, whose only triumph came when the Russian retired three games into last year's second round at Miami.

The elimination of Zheng leaves only 18th seed Li Na of China to carry Asian hopes of a first Grand Slam singles champion. Li will face Italy's 26th-seeded Francesca Schiavone in a fourth-round matchup on Sunday.

Zheng, 26, became the first Chinese player to reach a Slam singles semifinal with her 2008 Wimbledon run, which included a victory over then-No. 1 Ana Ivanovic.

Zheng reached her top career ranking of 15th in May, the highest mark achieved by any Chinese player, and collected her second victory over a world number one last month at Los Angeles in beating Russia's Dinara Safina.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2009)