Zheng on brink of success until ran in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, England – Misaki Doi of Japan defeated Foretz Gacon of France 7-5, 6-4 to reach her first WTA quarterfinals at the Aegon Classic.

Doi will play Jelena Jankovic on Saturday after rain halted play.

Zheng Jie of China was within two points of reaching the semifinals before play was suspended at 6-3, 5-6 against Roberta Vinci from Italy.

Zheng led 6-3, 5-3, but rain intervened. There was a 42-minute delay at 5-4 before three more minutes of play, then a nine-minute delay before they played another eight minutes.

Zheng dropped her serve despite having recovered from 0-40 and reaching deuce. Vinci held serve for 6-5 before the rain came again and washed out play for good.