Peng Shuai flies the flag after stars pull out

Peng Shuai returns a shot to Kimiko Date Krumm on Sunday. [Zou Zhongping / China Daily]

GUANGZHOU - After struggling through a year which saw her WTA Tour ranking fall to a six-year low of 95, China's Peng Shuai came into the Asian Games as a dark horse for the crown.

However, with the host's top two players, world No 11 Li Na and defending champion Zheng Jie, not competing in the singles, the 24-year-old picked up the national team's hopes when she upset top seed Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan in a marathon semifinal on Sunday.

Peng, seeded fourth in Guangzhou, will battle for the gold medal with third seed Akgui Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, who defeated India's Sania Mirza in the other semi.

"We were running all the time. There were a few balls during which I felt my arms and legs were about to fall off," an exhausted Peng said after the 165-minute match.

"I was leading sometimes and was falling behind, too. In the second set, I felt very tired and she was bouncing back. But the fans kept cheering for me and that gave me strength and I kept telling myself not to give up," said Peng.

She said her mental preparation for the encounter against the 1994 Asiad singles gold medalist helped her.

"She is very tough and experienced. I know she has defeated a lot of high-ranking players this year," Peng said of her doubles partner at October's China Open.

Date Krumm, a former world No 4, was full of praise for Peng.

"I think she had a great match today. She had good attacks and good defense. Competing on her home court put her under pressure, and she had to fight that as well as me. But I think she controlled it well and then took charge of the match," she said.

China Daily