Jie Zheng remains unbeaten this season; trounces Madison Keys in round one – Australian Open 2012
Chinese prolific performer, Jie Zheng, faced an easy draw against the upcoming American superstar, Madison Keys, in the opening round battle of the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open. On Tuesday, 16-years-old American locked horns with the 28-years-old Chinese for the first time in her career; lost the match 2-6, 1-6 but was praised for her efforts that led her to place a main round berth in the contest.
Zheng was in sublime form having won the season opener, ASB Classic tournament contested in Auckland, earlier this month. She defeated the superior ranked fourth seed Flavia Pennetta to clinch the title; before that she had ousted the third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis. Her performances clearly showed that she was on course to nail down every opponent; beating a teenager minnow was never a problem for her.
Both players held their serves in the first four games before the Chinese tennis ace turned the tables upon her opponent; all-round onslaught from her helped her clinch the next four games of the set, which were good enough to win her the opener. Breakthroughs in the fifth and seventh game of the set were won in exactly the same manner; couple of winners down the line.
Start for the teenager was impressive but her immaturity and inferior game play led to her downfall in the following games. She couldn’t change gears during the time when her opponent was advancing towards the net to exert pressure. It was something that everyone expected of the youngster but nevertheless she enjoyed playing at one of the most elitist platform of the tennis world.
Another dominating show in the second set spared just one game for the American that she could remember in good words; apart from that it was all Zheng. Chinese broke serve in the third game and held her serve to take the lead. Keys was completely owned at that stage and had no clue what to do at that pressure situation. Two successive breaks in the next four games were enough for the Chinese to move into the second round with a resounding straight sets triumph.
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