Zheng Jie First to Advance to Australian Open Semi-finals -- Hisense Arena Provides a "Home Field Advantage"

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Jan 26, 2010, 12:29 ET

MELBOURNE, Australia and QINGDAO, China, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Chinese tennis star, Zheng Jie, defeated Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine by a score of 2-1, in the Hisense Arena to advance to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Jan. 24. Also in the Hisense Arena, Li Na, China's top female tennis player, beat the fourth seed Danish player, Caroline Wozniacki, by a 6-4 and 6-3 margin to reach the quarter-finals yesterday. This was the first time that Chinese players occupied two of the top eight places in the Australian Open. Zheng Jie and Li Na both achieved their record-breaking results in the women's singles of the Australian Open.

After the competition on Jan. 24, Zheng Jie once smiled and said, "The Australian Open arena is my lucky place. I once won the first of my two Grand Slam titles in the women's doubles here, and now, I made the quarter-finals in the women's singles. I think we can go further because you can see Li Na is in the fourth round. I hope both Chinese players can be in the semi-finals." Now Zheng Jie's prediction has come true and we believe that the two will break a new record in the Australian Open.

As one of the four Grand Slam tournaments in the world, the Australian Open attracts the world's best tennis players every year. Among the Australian Open stadiums, Hisense Arena is the only one named after a company. Hisense obtained a six year naming rights deal for the arena in 2008. The company reaps much reward in supporting this widely-popular sport. Hisense is the model of Chinese brands. Therefore, Hisense Arena provides Chinese players the "comforts of home," which perhaps gives them the "home field advantage."

The latest news is that Zheng Jie defeated Russian player Maria Kirilenko by 2:0 and advanced to the semi-finals today. It was the first time that Chinese tennis player achieved the amazing score in the history.

SOURCE Hisense