Jankovic in Finals, Zheng Falls

It was the usual typical frustration I experienced when watching the semi-final match between Serbian, Jelena Jankovic and Russian, Vera Zvonareva.

On the one hand, it was not surprising to see Jankovic's suspect serve and mental fragility almost cost her the match but on the other hand, it was equally frustrating seeing her Russian opponent not taking her chances to see out the match, after winning the 2nd-set comfortably, 2-6.

I can see why Zvonareva is currently in the top 10 on the WTA Tour - smooth groundstrokes, very intelligent play and not fearful to approach the net - testament to her strong doubles play.

I can also see why Jankovic, although having reached the top of women's tennis, has not won her first Slam - she lacks diversity of play (hits hard, harder or hardest with little net play) and of course, the weak serve.

If she can can improve these 2 aspects of her game, I can see her grabbing her first Slam - but not just yet...

Jankovic's close 7-6 2-6 6-4 win over Zvonareva means that she meets another Russian in the final, Svetlana Kutznetsova who overcame a hostile crowd to beat home favourite, Zheng Jie 7-6 7-5.

I think the final will be a close encounter, with each player taking a set. But I feel Jankovic will take the match in the deciding set simply because Kutznetsova is in a transition period at the moment with her change in coach and training location.

China Open 2008 - Ivanovic Out

My mistake - Astro, Malaysia's local satellite station, was showing highlights of China Open 2008 in Beijing and I managed to catch a glimps of the match between China's Zheng Jie and reining French Open winner, Ana Ivanovic and I'm happy to say, it was a cracker!

I'm always amazed at how aggressive the pint sized, 5ft 4, Zheng Jie plays, both at the baseline and at the net. The angles she seems to find is just so amazing and she's so fast around the court!

The young Serb, Ivanovic is recovering from injury and is returning to the form that brought her first Grand Slam this year on the clay courts of Roland Garros. She's just got such a fluid forehand motion and her backhand is equally formidable.

Unfortunately, her serve was letting her down at crucial moments and she succumbed to the slightly more aggressive Zheng, 7-6 2-6 6-4.

Zheng will meet Russian, Svetlana Kutznetsova, who easily overcame 19 year old, Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2 6-4.

Joining them in the China Open semi-finals are Vera Zvonareva and Jelena Jankovic.

Action continues on Astro CH814 Eurosport (GMT+7).

China Open - Beijing - 2008

Ah, the China Open in Beijing sure brings back memories!

I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the China Open back in 2006, while I was studying Mandarin there.

My best friend's girlfriend's cousin was working with one of the main sponsors there and we got to sit in the corporate box for one of the night matches. I remember it was between Venus Williams and another player, who's name escapes me at this moment. This was followed by (the then up-and-coming) Chinese doubles pair, Zheng Jie and Yan Zi.

Unfortunately, the previous Sharapova match tickets went to the sponsor's VIP client, sigh)! Anyway, the last time I watched a "live" tennis match was when Michael Chang played in Malaysia in the early 90's in Malaysia, so, I was more than happy to to catch ANY match live at that point!

The China Open is a cosy little tournament where the stadium is small enough for fans, even in the upper tiers, to get a close view of their favourite tennis stars.

The Chinese crowd are also more vocal than European crowds (much like their US counterparts) and needless to say, they were rooting for the home-grown Chinese pair and Venus!

Both sets of players won comfortably in the end and I'm sure the crowd (and myself included) attributed this to their keen support!

It's a pity that I'm not in China to watch this match live again (and it's annoying that it's NOT being shown on Astro (Asia's satellite provider) but I'll try my best to keep you updated on the news and results from the China Open 2008.

The China Open is from 20 September till 28 September 2008 and visit the Official China Open Website for more details about the tournament.