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03/28/2024 05:50:41 am

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Tennis News: Chinese Zheng Saisai Defeats German Carina Witthoeft to Advance to Next Round of 2016 Australian Open

Zheng Saisai

(Photo : Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters) Zheng Saisai advances to the second round of the 2016 Australian Open by beating the German Carina Witthoeft.

China's highest ranked player Zheng Saisai has advanced to the second round of the 2016 Australian Open after beating German Carina Witthoeft  with a dominating straight sets 6-1, 6-2 victory in an hour and 13 minutes.

Zheng, who is currently ranked No. 83 in the world, became the third Chinese player in the women's draw to earn a spot in the second round of the prestigious tennis tournament. Fellow countrywomen Wang Qiang and Han Xinyun defeated their respective opponents on Day 1 of the competition.

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Zheng, 21, started tennis at the early age of eight. She plays right handed (double hand backhand) and loves to play on a hard surface.

The native of Shaanxi is being coached by Alan Ma. She reached her career high singles ranking as world No. 61 on May 11, 2015 and world No. 37 in the doubles ranking on January 6, 2014.

Zheng dominated the match against the German, taking the first set of the game in just 26 minutes. Witthoeft committed handful of turn over capping with a stunning 36 unforced errors.

According to Xinhua, the Chinese tennis player will next face Johanna Konta, who had a shocking upset victory against the eight-seeded American and seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams.

"I don't know (if I can go deep into the tournament). Konta is playing really good, if she can beat Venus that means something," Zheng who speaks almost fluent English told the press."It's has to be a really tough match."

In the other tennis match of the grand slam tournament. Chinese qualifier and world No. 133 Shuai Zhang registered the biggest upset victory of the competition. Zhang defeated the current world No. 2 Simona Halep of Romania with stunning straight sets 6-4, 6-3 win to advance to the second round of tournament. It was Zhang's first ever grand slam match victory in 14 appearances.

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