Chinese pair Zheng Jie and Yan Zi were sent packing from the women's doubles semifinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday as they were beaten 6-0, 7-6, 7-5(7-3) by Victoria Azarenka of Belarusand Shahar Peer from Israel.

 

The Chinese former champions looked on course for a final berth when they won the first set without losing one game, but were then outplayed by the opponents in a match lasting two hours 27 minutes.

 

Despite the loss, Zheng said she was satisfied with their performance.

 

"It is a pity that we lost the game, we had the chance to win, but we didn't hold it firmly," said Zheng.

 

"I am satisfied with the performance during this Grand Slam, I didn't take part in many tournaments last year because of injury. And I am happy that we could enter the semifinals of the Australian Open since this is the first Grand Slam after I came back," said the 25-year-old.

 

With the first set down, Azarenka and Peer came back strongly in the second set as they broke the Chinese pair's first serve game and led the game to 6-4. After Zheng and Yan broke back in the 10th game, Azarenka and Peer took two points to push the match into the third set.

 

Both sides held their serve games in the deciding set and made it 6-6. After making it 3-3 in the tiebreaker, Azarenka and Peer scored four points in a row to seal the victory.

 

Yan admitted they did not expect their opponents were so strong but said entering the quarterfinals of Australian Open would gave much confidence.

 

"Losing is not the end of world, we will come back strongly in the next tournament. Defeating Williams sisters in the quarterfinals is a great boost for us, and we wish the victory will help us during the Olymics," said Yan.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2008)