JINAN, East China, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women's top tennis player Zheng Jie had her gold medal assault stopped before the women's singles semifinals when she lost to Zhang Shuai of Tianjin at the 11th National Games on Saturday.

    Zheng Jie, from Sichuan, was defeated by Zhang Shuai, from Tianjin 7-6, 6-3.

    Zheng Jie attributed the failure to mental problem. "I was defeated by myself. My mental problem leads to the defeat," she said.

    While for Zhang Shuai, the victory is much beyond her expectation. "I did not expect I could win," she said.

    Zhang Shuai, born in 1989, is a professional female tennis player of China. As of 12 October 2009, she is the fourth-highest ranked women's singles player of China, at World number 160.

    In China Open 2009 this October, Zhang Shuai defeated world women's No. 1 Dinara Safina in two close sets 7-5, 7-6.

    Also on Saturday, top-seeded players of mixed doubles Li Zhe and Peng Shuai from Tianjin defeated Bai Yan and Zhou Yimiao from Shanghai for the finals.

    Li/Peng lost to Shanghai's rivals 7-6 in the first set, but downed them 6-3 and 6-2 to seal the victory.

    "It was a tough match. I thought we would have lost the game, but we kept on encouraging each other," Peng said.

    "The National Games are held once in four years, and I will never give up," she said.

    Peng takes part in all the three events -- singles, doubles and mixed doubles -- in the tournament.

    "I feel tired and a lot of pressure, but I will try my best in the rest of the matches," Peng said.

    The 23-year-old Peng took the Tianjin team all the way through to win a gold medal in the team's event, which was held earlier in July. The team event's gold was also Peng's first national title.

    Also, the Olympic bronze medalist Yan Zi advanced to semirfinals after beating Xie Yanze from Tianjin in the women's singles' event Saturday.

    The tennis tournament is slated for October 19 to 27.