ASB CLASSIC – China’s Jie Zheng Wins The Tournament

Written by: Staff on 8th January 2012

ASB CLASSIC - China's Jie Zheng Wins The Tournament

China's Zheng Jie in action against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska during their women's singles tennis match at the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Stadium court in Beijing, China on 05 October 2011. Radwanska won with the score 6-1, 6-4. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

ASB CLASSIC

Auckland, New Zealand

January 2-8, 2012

$220,000/International

Hard/Outdoors

Results – Sunday, January 8, 2012

Singles – Final

Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (4) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 26 63 20 ret. (low back injury)

Doubles – Final (played Saturday)

(3) Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE/CZE) d. (4) Goerges/Pennetta (GER/ITA) 67(2) 62 107 (Match TB)

Final Facts

– Zheng wins her fourth WTA title (her first three came at Hobart in 2005 and at Estoril and Stockholm in 2006); she is now 4-2 in WTA finals.

– Zheng, who was unseeded, took out three seeds en route to the title (No.8 seed Niculescu, No.3 seed Kuznetsova and No.4 seed Pennetta).

– Pennetta did not lose a set en route to the final, but with the retirement loss to Zheng fell to 9-12 in WTA finals.

– Pennetta subsequently withdrew from singles in Sydney (still in doubles).

– Hlavackova and Hradecka win their sixth WTA title together (their biggest coming at the French Open last year); Hlavackova now has nine WTA doubles titles to her name, Hradecka 12.

Final Quotes

Zheng Jie: “I’m so excited to win this title. It has been more than five years since my last title. I had two big injuries – my wrist and my ankle – but now I’m back. But I’m sorry for Flavia. I wish for her that it gets better for next week.”

Flavia Pennetta: “I don’t know what it is yet. I’m going to have an MRI done tomorrow, I think. At 4-2 in the first set was when I first felt it. I started to go down with my leg to be ready for the return and pain started coming out. When I was serving it was really painful. She started making some mistakes, which happens when you see your opponent injured, but it was not good for me to keep going on the court. I tried to keep going, but it was not how I wanted to be. It’s still a good week for me, though. I’d like to be in the finals every week, singles and doubles. But sometimes your body needs a few days of rest.”