Jie Zheng's shock victory over Ana Ivanovic at Wimbledon has reignited China's hopes of tennis gold at the Beijing Olympics after a dismal 18 months for the country's leading women players.

The 24-year-old saw off the Serb 6-1, 6-4 last week to become the first Chinese to beat a world No1.

Zheng is a former Wimbledon and Australian Open doubles champion but missed most of last year with an ankle injury while another of their major hopes, Li Na, struggled for form in 2007.

Zheng, who was facing 15th seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary today, has been hailed for giving the sport in her homeland the perfect boost ahead of the Games.

Gao Shenyang, deputy director of the Chinese Tennis Association, said: "It was a remarkable moment for Chinese tennis. She never gives up and her style of play includes speed, variety and cleverness."