Tianjin, a traditional tennis powerhouse, suffered another setback when its two pairs were knocked out of the mixed doubles semifinals at the 10th Chinese National Games in Nanjing on Sunday.

After failing to win either men's team or women's team titles, Tianjin had pinned its hopes on the mixed doubles event, but its gold-medal dreams were smashed as both Peng Shuai/Wang Yu and Liu Nannan/Sun Peng fell at the semifinal hurdle Sunday.

Peng/Wang lost 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to Liu Wanting/Lu Hao of the Chinese Army team, while Liu/Sun was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Li Ting/Zhu Benqiang of Hubei.

The mixed doubles final will take place on Monday.