Zheng Jie
Beijing: Zheng Jie's extraordinary journey to the Wimbledon semi-finals to become the first Chinese to reach the last four of a grand slam singles was hailed by local media on Wednesday.
Ranked 133rd in the world and only in the draw at the All England Club as a wild card, Zheng beat top seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round, 15th seed Agnes Szavay in the fourth and on Tuesday downed 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova in the quarter-finals.
"Miracle replayed!" trumpeted Xinhua.com, while the official English language China Daily put the 24-year-old on the front page alongside the headline "Zheng makes history".
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"Of course we're surprised by Zheng Jie's win," said Xie Miqing, spokeswoman of Chinese Tennis Association. "The whole nation feels proud and inspired by her performance."
The memory of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake still resonates in China and the Beijing News emphasised Zheng's origins in its headline; "Sichuan girl rewrites history". Her home city's top paper, Chengdu Business Daily, had "Chengdu power break out".
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Zheng said after her quarter-final victory that she would donate her prize money from Wimbledon to help the survivors of the quake, which killed nearly 70,000 people.
Just 37 days from the start of the Beijing Olympics, Zheng's remarkable progress has reignited Chinese hopes of gold medals in tennis at the Games.
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The Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily led with; "Wimbledon semis greatly inspires Olympic preparation".
Zheng was previously known for grand slam doubles wins with Yan Zi at Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2006 and China's best hope of Olympic gold in Beijing was always thought to be retaining the title Sun Tiantian and Li Ting won in Athens.
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"We have always aimed for singles gold but Zheng Jie's results have further bolstered our confidence in the Chinese tennis team," Xie added.
Zheng faces twice Wimbledon champion and sixth seed Serena Williams on Thursday and if she manages another huge upset would play Saturday's final on her 25th birthday.
"Nothing is impossible," the Chinese team's head coach Jiang Hongwei told the Web site. "At least we should not be frightened by the big name. Even if she does not win, she will give Serena a big shock."
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