Jie Zheng and Flavia Pennetta. Photos / Dean Purcell
One is a feisty Italian who speaks of her life with disarming honesty, the other is a Chinese woman who was told she would never make it as a pro because she was too small. Together they form the ingredients for a Classic tennis final today.
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie was so small as a child that her parents, Zheng Shu Kai and Zhi Bin Lie, considered the idea of her becoming a tennis professional faintly ridiculous.
Hitting the books seemed a better option for the Chengdu native than hitting the courts.
"I was young and everyone was saying you're no chance to be a professional player because you're so small, you're not strong," Zheng said. "But I loved my tennis and every day I tried my best and every day I practised so hard. That's why I'm still here."
These are heady times for Chinese tennis. Li Na is in the top 10 (5), Peng Shuai the top 20 (17) so "they're looking for me", said the 48th-ranked player. She has been as high as 15, but two trips to the operating table to fix a bung wrist have seen her numbers slip.
Yesterday she beat former world No 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in 2 gruelling hours.
After 45 minutes of the semifinal you would have got long odds on Zheng making her sixth ATP final.
About to concede the first set in eight insipid games, this match against Kuznetsova looked like going the way of their previous six encounters.
It would be nice to say something quite remarkable happened, but it's not true.
All that happened was that Zheng started getting everything back and Kuznetsova had one of those hours stuck in neutral that have pockmarked her career.
Once Zheng got a foothold in the match, it really wasn't that close.
"She was making every ball," Kuznetsova said. "It's the best match I've seen her play.
"She moves really well ... she just fought really hard."
Zheng admitted to being quite relaxed, even when she found herself 0-5 down in the first set, mainly because she never really had any expectation of winning. Her husband and coach Chang Yu told her not to worry, that she was playing a "great player" and just needed to be more aggressive and keep fighting.
"I needed to be more aggressive and try different things or else I would have been finished in two sets," Zheng said.
The nerves didn't arrive until she found herself serving for the match at 5-1 up in the final set. She dropped that game, watched Kuznetsova hold and then found herself a break point down twice in the ninth game.
"I got a little bit nervous because I thought, 'Oh I'm really close to winning this match."
Without being uncharitable, Zheng has no weapons with which to hurt Flavia Pennetta, but she has beaten her twice in five meetings so she knows how to get under her skin.
The Italian will want to finish the match quickly. The longer Zheng stays in a point, a game and a set, the bolder she becomes and the more frustrated her opponents get.
Sometimes the little ones win.
The stats
Age: 28
1st round: bt Ayumi Morita 4-6 6-3 6-4
2nd round: bt Monica Niculescu 6-0 6-2
Quarter-final: bt Lucie Hradecka 6-2 6-3
Semifinal: bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6 6-3 6-3
WTA ranking: 48
Career titles: 3
Career prizemoney: US$4,127,780
Best result in a Grand Slam: Semifinal Wimbledon (2008) Australian Open (2010).
Flavia Pennetta
"Do you not tire of me?" Italy's Flavia Pennetta asked last night as she entered her second press conference of the day.
The answer from the gathered media was "no".
With an open and personable approach, Pennetta has been one of the media darlings in Auckland. And with two strong performances yesterday which saw her secure a showdown with China's Jie Zheng in today's final and later, with partner Julia Goerges, a spot in the doubles final, she has become a crowd favourite also.
Pennetta can expect to have the crowd on her side today as she looks to become the first player since Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik in 2005 to secure the singles/doubles quinella.
But having not won a singles title since mid-2010, her focus today will be on the first match of the day against Zheng. She has certainly been the more impressive of the two over the course of the week, storming into the final with straight sets wins, including a dominant 6-1, 6-2 over Germany's Angelique Kerber in yesterday's semifinal.
It took the crafty Italian just 59 minutes to dispatch Kerber, although with her typically refreshing honesty Pennetta admits the young German had probably checked out of the match earlier than that.
Kerber seemed to drop her head in the second set, fluffing straightforward shots. Pennetta said she was surprised how quickly her opponent folded. "At 4-1 [in the second set] I think she is starting to give up a little bit."
Pennetta uses the same sort of candour in her new autobiography Dritto al Cuore (Straight to the Heart).
In the book she speaks with jaw-dropping honesty on matters ranging from her sex life (very healthy, since you asked) to rifts with other players on the tour.
She finds Serbia's Jelena Jankovic "disturbing" because she takes the court "wearing make-up, perfect hair and perfume. When she leaves she's the same." And she once challenged Anastasia Rodonova to a fight on court, after clashing with the Russian-born Australian over her "unsportsmanlike" behaviour.
A clever player, who relies on angles and pace variation to beat her opponent rather than raw power, Pennetta will have to use all her wiles today against the determined Zheng.
Earlier in the day Pennetta would have been preparing for a final showdown with former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova - a player she has never beaten before ("I always lose, no?").
But after watching Zheng's fighting win over Kuznetsova, Pennetta said she would not be taking the unseeded Chinese woman lightly.
Pennetta is likely to have about an hour between her two finals today, but she is confident she will have the stamina to give both matches her best. "We work so much during the pre-season so we are fit, we are ready to play singles, doubles every day."
The stats
Age: 29
1st round: bt Sorana Cirstea 6-4 7-6 (5)
2nd round: bt Elena Baltacha 6-4 6-2
Quarter-final: bt Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-1
Semifinal: bt Angelique Kerber 6-1 6-2
WTA ranking: 20
Career titles: 9
Career prize money: $5,914,656
Best result in a Grand Slam: Quarter-finals US Open 2011, 2009, 2008.
The match featured windy conditions, making play challenging for both.