Zheng Jie |
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Zheng Jie (simplified Chinese: 郑洁; traditional Chinese: 鄭潔; pinyin: Zhèng Jié; born 5 July 1983 in Chengdu, Sichuan) is a Chinese professional tennis player. Her carrer high ranking is World No. 15 which she achieved on May 18, 2009. She has won three WTA singles titles at Hobart in 2005 and Estoril and Stockholm in 2006. She has also won eleven doubles titles with Yan Zi including Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006 and reached a career high ranking of World No. 3. Zheng has also reached the singles semi-finals at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first Chinese player to do so and has won the bronze medal in doubles with Yan Zi at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As of August 29, 2009, Zheng is ranked World No. 22 in singles and No. 29 in doubles.
At Wimbledon in 2008, Zheng gained recognition when she became the first Chinese player ever to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament, defeating World No. 1 Ana Ivanović en route. She donated her winnings to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in her native province. She is coached by her husband, Chang Yu.
In May 2002, she won two successive $25,000 ITF singles tournaments, at Shanghai and Tianjin, right after reaching her first $50,000 tournament quarterfinal, at Fukuoka, Japan. That September, she gained direct entry into a WTA tournament at Shanghai, and reached Round Two before losing to Anna Kournikova. She ended the year as World No. 183.