LONDON: China's Zheng Jie wants Wimbledon officials to give her a Center Court showdown with French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.
Zheng, 24, earned a third round clash against the top seed by beating British wildcard Elena Baltacha 6-2, 7-5 and then admitted she would love to face the Serbian world No 1 in the most famous arena in tennis.
The Chinese wild card didn't enjoy her one other singles appearance on Center Court, when she was thrashed by defending champion Serena Williams in the 2004 first round.
The world No 133 is desperate to make up for that disappointment and has asked the All England Club's match schedulers to let her have another crack at playing on the show court.
"It's such a good court with a great atmosphere. I would love to play there again," Zheng told AFP.
Zheng lost her only previous meeting with Ivanovic in Montreal two years ago and, after watching the Serb save two match points against Nathalie Dechy in the second round, she knows she will be facing an even better player now.
"Before when I played Ana she wasn't the No 1, now she's No 1 and the French Open champion. It's the first time I will have played her on grass.
"Of course I want to win the match but I know it will be very tough. She had two match points against her in the last round but her heart is very strong.
"It's tough to be two match points down and come back. That shows what a good player she is.
"She has a big serve and a big forehand. I just want to try my best and enjoy the match."
Zheng built on her impressive first round win over Slovakian 30th seed Dominika Cibulkova with another confident display against Baltacha.
She got off to a quick start and never surrendered the initiative. Exposing Baltacha's lack of mobility with some clever drop shots and astute baseline hitting, she took the first set comfortably.
Baltacha had the chance to serve for the second set at 5-4 up, but Zheng held her nerve and broke back before taking the next two games to go through.
"The first set was OK but the second was tough because she has a big serve. It was a bit windy and returning serve was tough," Zheng said.
"Of course everyone was supporting her but it wasn't too bad because I could hear some Chinese people saying 'come on' to me."
Zheng's compatriot Li Na was defeated 6-2, 6-4 by Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the youngest player in this year's singles.
Li reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2006. But there will be no repeat this year as she struggled from the start against the 16-year-old qualifier.
Pavlyuchenkova, who beat French 17th seed Alize Cornet in the first round, stormed through the first set after breaking in the third game and did the same in the second set to win at a canter.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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