Jie Zheng takes down Angelique Kerber in the second round battle – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Chinese tennis ace, Jie Zheng, registered a surprise victory over the superior-ranked German opponent, Angelique Kerber, in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday. The 31st ranked Chinese battled for one
hour and 33 minutes of play to settle the final scores at 7-6(4), 6-1, in her favour.
28-year-old Zheng proved her amazing skills on the hard courts of Miami, Florida, once again by driving out the world number 14, Kerber, from the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier-level tournament. She had a stiff contest
against the German in the opening set but kept her basics right to move on neck-to-neck with her. After winning the opening set tie-breaker round, the Chinese went absolutely berserk in the next set and powered her way to victory in style.
It was Zheng’s 12th victory of the running season and the first one over Kerber in singles encounters. She has already bagged a championship title this season and her impactful start to the Miami campaign hints that
the Chinese is well on course to grab another one here.
Zheng’s 75 per cent precise first serve earned her 32 out of 50 points in the match and she was further assisted by five doubles faults from Kerber at the most crucial moments of the contest. The unseeded Chinese converted five
out of eight break opportunities en route to victory, whilst Kerber lagged behind with three out of four conversions to finish on the losing side in the end.
"She has done so well the last half year and her ranking has been going up so fast, so I knew she was a dangerous player," Zheng said. "It was my first time playing her so at the start I didn't really know how to play against her.
But I really wanted to win this match so I knew I had to change something. In the first set I was making many mistakes, so in the second set I started putting the ball in the court more, but I was still playing aggressively."
Zheng is slated to take on the 16th seeded Slovak competitor, Dominika Cibulkova, in the third round of the tournament.
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