Zheng Jie makes consolation point for China in Fed Cup semifinal

BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Host player Zheng Jie beat Spainard Carla Suarez-Navarro to make a consolation point for China who had already lost to Spain in the women's tennis Fed Cup world-group semifinal here on Sunday.

Zheng, world No. 206, came from behind to beat Navarro, ranked 132nd, 7-6(5), 6-3. Navarro, 19, broke twice to have a 4-0 lead in the first set but then made 24 unforced errors. Zheng offset the 0-4 deficit and outscored Nvarro in the second set.

In the best-of-five due between China and Spain, Navarro defeated Peng Shuai of China on Saturday and her teammate separately won over Zheng on Saturday and Peng on Sunday to make sure that Spain would show in the final in September.

China failed to rewrite the history to be the first ever Asian finalist in Fed Cup.

Spain muscled out Italy, runner-up of last year, 3-2 in the first round in Naples to reach the semifinal. Spain will meet the winner between Russia and United States. The last time Spain in the final was in 2005 and they lost to Slovakia. As five-time winner of the Fed Cup, Spain were crowned for the last time in 1998, beating Switzerland.