HONG KONG -- World No. 7-ranked Vera Zvonareva beat China's Zheng Jie 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Wednesday to give Team Russia a 1-0 lead over Team Asia Pacific at the women's team-format exhibition tournament in Hong Kong.
Both players were erratic, with the match including 13 breaks of serve.
The Russian, a bronze medalist at the Beijing Olympics, trailed in both sets, coming back from 3-5 down in the first set to force a tiebreak. Zheng, an accomplished doubles player who made the Wimbledon singles semifinals in 2008, missed four straight backhands as she lost the tiebreak.
Zvonareva recovered from a 2-0 deficit in the second set and two straight backhand errors by Zheng in the 10th game gave the Russian the break and the win.
Russian Anna Chakvetadze was to play India's Sania Mirza in the second match between the two regions later Wednesday.
The other team matchup will pit Team Europe against Team Americas. World No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is captaining the European squad while seven-time Grand Slam singles champion American Venus Williams is leading the Americas team.
