Li, Sun make Qatar Open women's doubles final
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-04 11:42

Olympic champions Li Ting and Sun Tiantian from China Friday advanced into the women's doubles final of the 600,000 dollars Qatar Open WTA tournament, outshining top-seeded Likhovtseva/Zvonareva 6-3, 6-4.

The other Chinese combination, Australia Open winners Zheng Jie/Yan Zi were stunned by Ai Sugiyama of Japan and Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, conceding a 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 defeat in a marathon match.

Li and Sun, who had been out of form since their biggest upset victory at 2004 Athens Olympic Games, staged an convincing performance in the 92-minute semifinal clash with the Russian rivals, who ranked 20 in the world.

Second-seeded Zheng and Yan, who inspiringly claimed the doubles title at this year's Australia Open, failed to set up a all-Chinese final, losing to international force of Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama in the 127-minute sweating match.

In the singles contest, top two seeds Amelie Mauresmo of France and Nadia Petrova of Russia made the final Friday after beating Swiss Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-2 and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) respectively in semis.