91Èȱ¬

Zheng Jie got the better of fourth seed Roberta Vinci - and the weather - to book her place in the semi-finals of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham.

The Chinese player, who won 6-3 5-7 6-4, will meet the winner of Jelena Jankovic and Misaki Doi's quarter-final, which the former leads 2-0.

Russia's Ekaterina Makarova beat Su-Wei Hsieh 3-6 6-3 6-3 and will face either Melanie Oudin or Irina Falconi.

Oudin was leading her US compatriot 6-4 5-7 1-0 when rain set in.

Play at the Edgbaston event is due to resume at 11:00 BST on Sunday.

Organisers said they hoped to complete the remaining two quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final on Sunday.

Quarter-finals:

Zheng Jie (CHN) beat Roberta Vinci (ITA) 6-3 5-7 6-4

Misaki Doi (JPN) trails Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 0-2

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) beat Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) 3-6 6-3 6-3

Melanie Oudin (US) leads Irina Falconi (US) 6-4 5-7 1-0