The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, July 2) -- The amazing Zheng Jie defeated 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 Tuesday to gain a spot in the semifinals of Women's Singles at Wimbledon, where she will meet former champion Serena Williams.
Zheng, who upset top seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round, broke Vaidisova twice in the opening set and saved six break points in the set.
The Chinese player, a wildcard, dropped the set when Vaidisova broke her for the second time in the 11th game of the second set. But Zheng came back to win the third set. She became the first Chinese player ever to reach the semifinals of a grand slam tournament. This was also the first time that a wildcard entrant had ever reached the semifinals at the All England Club.
Zheng has pledged to donate the prize money she earns from this year's championship to victims of the magnitude-7.9 earthquake that struck western China in May. The 24-year-old Zheng is from Sichuan, the province at the epicenter of the quake, which killed 70,000 people. But she also explained that part of her prize money would be assigned to the Chinese tennis federation, which sponsors the travel costs of all China's competitors.
Serena Williams of the US stormed her way into the semifinals after defeating Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-0 in just 51 minutes on the Center Court.
Defending champion, American Venus Williams, moved another step closer to a potential fifth title with an easy win over Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3.
Elena Dementieva of Russia advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time, on her tenth attempt, after defeating Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.
