China's Olympic doubles champion Sun Tiantian soared 47 places to 81st in the WTA rankings on Monday after capturing her first singles title at the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan over the weekend.

Sun, whose previous best singles WTA singles result had been a couple of quarter-final appearances, was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over local Uzbek hope Iroda Tulyaganova.

After joining compatriots Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai in the top 100, Sun told the Titan Sports newspaper that she had to overcome the odds to win her first title. "Iroda is a very good player and she was playing at home," she said.

Tulyaganova, once ranked 16th in the world, was delighted to have made it through to a final after suffering numerous injury setbacks.

"She played well, she served well. It is not a loss for me, it is a win because I've come back from all of my injuries and reached the final," said Tulyaganova, who climbed from 221 to 158th in the rankings this week.

Sun is the fourth Chinese woman to win a singles Tour title, following compatriots Li, Zheng and Yan Zi.

She also owns nine doubles titles and gold medal form the 2004 Athens Games - all claimed with doubles partner Li Ting.

(China Daily 10/11/2006 page16)