LONDON, June 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Zheng Jie, last year's semifinalist, reached the second round after beating Kristina Barrois of Germany 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) at Wimbledon on Monday.

    Zheng, the 16th seed, will take on Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in the second round.

    The 25-year-old surprised the world last year with victories over top seed Ana Ivanovic and the highly ranked Nicole Vaidisova and Agnes Szavay before becoming the first Chinese to reach a Grand Slam singles semifinal.

    She was stopped by Serena Williams in the semifinals.