Jie
Zheng of China has eliminated women’s 31st seed Alona Bondarenko in
what was a bizarre fourth-round match at Hisense Arena on Sunday.
The
7-6(5) 6-4 win for Zheng was riddled with unforced errors from both
players. The Chinese avenged her quarter-final loss to Bondarenko in
the Moorilla Hobart International lead-up tournament, which was
eventually won by the Ukrainian.
The first set saw six breaks of
serve, and Bondarenko held set points at 5-4 before being broken. It
seemed that neither player could hang onto a lead, and it was Zheng who
was able to finally capitalise on errors by her opponent to win the set
in a tight tie-breaker.
In the second set, more of the same
ensued, with multiple breaks of serve being gifted by both players with
double faults and repeated errors. Again, world No.35 Zheng managed to
edge out Bondarenko, holding serve when it mattered to reach the
quarter-finals.
After her sister Kateryna was eliminated in
round two of the Open, Bondarenko looked in ominous form, coming off
the Hobart win and dumping former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic out in
straight sets. But on Sunday she was erratic, becoming visibly agitated
at her inability to keep balls in play. She was not alone in that
regard, the two sharing 76 unforced errors evenly to just 27 winners in
a contest that was difficult to watch at times.
The
fourth-round win is Zheng’s best result in Melbourne, having fallen in
the round of 16 last year. The victory means that she has now knocked
out seeded players in three consecutive rounds after defeating Maria
Jose Martinez Sanchez, the 24th seed, and then upsetting 11th seed
Marion Bartoli of France in round three.
Zheng faces a
difficult assignment next, as she will meet the winner of this
afternoon’s match between 2009 finalist Dinara Safina and her
compatriot Maria Kirilenko, who caused the tournament’s first upset on
Day 1 when she defeated 2008 champion Maria Sharapova.
Fast facts
- While both players amassed 38 unforced errors, Zheng had twice as many winners as her opponent (18-9).
- Zheng served at 80 per cent (70-for-88) for the match, and won 50 per cent of points on her first serve.
- Bondarenko won just six of 18 points on her second serve throughout the match.