NEW YORK, Aug. 25 -- World No. 39 Peng Shuai beat Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-3 in a battle ofChinese Golden Flowers to advance to the second round in the 2014 U.S. Open here onMonday.
The 28-year-old Peng opened the match with an easy love game to show her good shapebefore she broke Zheng in the sixth.
The second set still saw Peng keep putting pressure on Zheng, breaking her in the openinggame and the fifth.
Peng nailed the victory in the ninth game where she forced a forehand mistake from Zhengto break her game and win the match.
It was their sixth meeting on WTA tournaments. Now Peng leveled the overall score to 3-3after Monday's victory.
"You always feel nervous when you meet a person from the same country," said Peng afterthe match.
"We were teammates for so many years and we know each other very well," she added.
The 31-year-old Zheng planned to represent China to take part in Incheon Asian Gamesnext month.
Peng would face the fourth seed Agnieszka Randwanska in the next round.
Dubbed the Chinese Golden Flower together with two-time Grand Slam winner Li Na andZheng, Peng has never achieved any singles title on the WTA tour.
However, the Hunan province native still enjoyed a big fan base all the same thanks to heroutgoing and sunny personality
She posted a picture on microblog Saturday when she held a king crab leg with a big smileon her face.
"Yummy! I love the crab leg. The restaurant is so popular that I have to eat on take-out!"she wrote about the New York delicacy before her U.S. Open match.
Her fans responded quickly and affectionately.
"With that crab leg, may you sweep the U.S. Open," said a fan with the ID Shouting.
