Top Asian women's tennis doubles partnership Li Na and Zheng Jie, from China, failed to make it to the last eight of the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis Tournament held in Tokyo in February.

Their early exit from the competition, which ranks just below the four grand slam events, came as a shock given their success in 2006.

Last year the achievements of Li and Zheng, as well as other female players, made Chinese tennis history and inspired a younger generation to take to the courts.

At the Australian Open tennis tournament this year, one of the four grand slam events, Li made a strong showing by advancing to the fourth round after beating the 10th-ranked Dinara Safina from Russia. Her emphatic 6-2, 6-2 win in 73 minutes made her the first Chinese female player ever to enter the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Before flying to the Australian Open in 2006, Zheng and Yan Zi, who formed a doubles partnership at the competition, booked return tickets for January 26th, one day before the final game. It was a move that reflected the low expectations of their coaches and the two athletes themselves. No Chinese tennis pair had ever made it to the semifinal, and nobody expected 2006 to be any different.

However, one victory led to another for the young pair and Zheng, 24, and Yan, 23, ended up having to cancel their early flight to play in the final, which they went on to win.

Six months later, the two Chinese girls made history again, this time by walking away with the women's doubles champion's trophy from Wimbledon, the world's oldest tennis competition. On the champion's podium, the rising tennis stars appeared to be more confident and cooler than half a year earlier. After winning the final, Yan sent a short message to her father and also to her coach Wang Liangzuo reading, "Great! we did it again!" The reply from her coach read, "Enjoy your victory!"

In fact, the pair's success over the past year has given them a considerable taste for enjoying victory. In the year-end new international rankings for 2006 they were ranked the number two women's doubles players in the world. Their strong showing at the Federation Cup, the flagship tournament of women's tennis, helped China to book a place in the top eight of that competition for the first time after claiming a four to one victory over Germany. The Chinese national team will now play against the top seven teams in the world in April.

Confidence building

Talking about her unexpected success Zheng said, "We were given very low expectations." Growing up in the same city, Zheng and Yan have known each other since they were children. They played as a doubles team for the first time in 2001, representing the provincial team in the national games.