Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has not been seen in public since posting an allegation about former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli on Chinese social media site Weibo on November 2.
The former number one-ranked doubles player alleged she was “forced” into sexual relations with Zhang Gaoli – who served as China’s vice-premier between 2013 and 2018.
The post was taken down minutes later, along with other recent posts from the account, which has more than 500,000 followers.
More and more leading voices from the world of tennis have spoken out about Peng Shuai since.
The US says it is “deeply concerned” about Peng Shuai with the White House urging China to “provide independent, verifiable proof” of the tennis player’s whereabouts and safety.
The 35-year-old doubles Grand Slam winner accused China’s ex-vice-premier of sexual assault two weeks ago.
The Women’s Tennis Association has threatened to pull events out of China.
The WTA has been told Peng Shuai is safe, and in Beijing, by the Chinese Tennis Association.
In a separate development on November 19, three photos of Peng Shuai were posted on a WeChat account under her name with the caption “Happy Weekend”.
Earlier this week, Chinese state media released an email attributed to Peng Shuai.
More and more leading voices from the world of tennis have spoken out about the Chinese player since.
Peng Shuai is a prominent figure in Chinese tennis. She has won two women’s doubles Grand Slams at Wimbledon in 2013 and the 2014 French Open, both alongside Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei.
Serena Williams, like in last year’s final defeat by Angelique Kerber,
seemed weighed down by public and personal expectations as she quickly fell 4-0
behind in the opening set.
Simona Halep had said beforehand that she had no pressure on her and that is
exactly how she played.
Defeat means Serena Williams’ wait for a first Grand Slam title since becoming a mum continues, as does her pursuit of an eighth Wimbledon singles title.
Simona Halep had lost nine of her
previous 10 meetings with Serena Williams.
She has now won the past two Grand
Slam finals she has appeared in, having been defeated in the three before that.
Serena Williams has lost her past three.
Although 56 minutes is a quick
victory, it is some way off the fastest Grand Slam final win – Steffi Graf’s
34-minute French Open win of 1988.
Simona Halep, who began the championships as world No 7, will rise to No 4 when the next rankings are published on Monday, July 15.
Romanian Simona Halep has won Indian Wells tournament after beating Serbian Jelena Jankovic 2-6 7-5 6-4.
2010 Indian Wells champion Jelena Jankovic, 30, looked in control after winning the first set with three breaks of serve and breaking early in set two.
World No 3 Simona Halep, 23, broke the Serb four times in a second set that saw six successive breaks.
The decider was also dominated by breaks of serve with four in a row but Simona Halep held at 3-3 and recorded the 18th break of the match to win it.
“Simona was unbelievable,” said Jelena Jankovic.
“We were running like two dogs and in the end I couldn’t keep up any more. She’s the younger one.”
Simona Halep, who received a bye to the final after Serena Williams pulled out of their semi-final with an injury, was expected to be fresher, having had three days off.
But it was Jelena Jankovic who began more aggressively, breaking in the opening game.
Simona Halep broke back immediately but two more breaks by Jelena Jankovic saw her wrap up the first set.
The second set was a topsy-turvy affair with the players exchanging six breaks of serve before Simona Halep held and broke Jelena Jankovic to level the match.
The momentum seemed to be with the Romanian with a tiring Jelena Jankovic repeatedly looking to her coach for inspiration.
The former world No 1 broke fortuitously in game three when a backhand clipped the top of the net and landed in.
That sparked another flurry of service breaks that saw the score move on to 3-3.
Eventually Simona Halep held and then broke Jelena Jankovic’s serve to lead 5-3 but the Serb summoned up enough energy to hit back in the next.
However, fittingly, the match ended with another break.
A ninth double fault gifted Simona Halep three Championship points and she powered a forehand down the middle of the court to wrap up the biggest win of her career in two hours and 37 minutes.
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