Sunday, August 17, 2008

Zheng/Yan win bronze at Olympic tennis women's doubles

Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China celebrate after winning the women's doubles bronze medal match of Beijing Olympic Games tennis event against Kateryna Bondarenko and Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. Zheng Jie and Yan Zi won the match and grabbed bronze medal in this event.

Chinese Zheng Jie and Yan Zi beat sixth seeds Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the women's doubles bronze medal play-off match on Sunday.

Zheng and Yan lost to Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues/Virginia Ruano Pascual while the Bondarenko sisters, the reigning champions at the Australian Open, lost to the Williams sisters in the semifinals on Saturday.

Zheng/Yan converted on six of nine break points to take the match 6-2, 6-2 in just 75 minutes.

China won the women's doubles gold medal in Athens, China's only Olympic tennis medal to date, when Li Ting and Sun Tiantian triumphed as dark horse.

"They did their best, I am happy with my players in singles and doubles, but I think they should have done better," said Chinese head coach Jiang Hongwei.

Yan and Zheng won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006, becoming the first Chinese players to win a Grand Slam title.

Source: Xinhua

No comments: