By Greg Stutchbury

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The success of Zheng Jie and Li Na in reaching the Australian Open semi-finals will help women's tennis grow and possibly secure a new naming rights deal, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive said on Friday.

Zheng and Li were both beaten on Thursday, but delight at having two players in the last four of a grand slam for the first time was widely praised in China, and came as welcome news for WTA Tour Chief Executive Stacey Allaster.

"(We have) two strategic priorities for us to grow the business, (the first) is digital," said Allaster, who held a roundtable discussion with reporters at the Australian Open on Friday. "The other magical area is China.

"We are lucky to have the product coming through (with Zheng and Li) as well on the ground.

"We would like to see more professional tennis in China.

"We have a strong partnership with the ITF so ITF circuit events provide an excellent pathway in building grassroots professional tennis in countries."

Allaster said the growth of the game in the world's most populous nation might also help with the renegotiation of their naming rights sponsorship agreement with Sony Ericsson.

The six-year deal, which was signed in 2005 for $88 million, expires at the end of this year and Allaster said they were still talking with the mobile phone company about a new contract.

There was no "drop-dead point" on the contract and the Tour was giving the company more time to deal with other issues after a new management team had been appointed, she said.

KEY MARKET

The company had indicated they saw China as a key market, she added.

"We have had very positive discussions. They have seen the return on investment of $600 million in added media value for them every year (from) our events," she said.

"It is an excellent global platform for them and their brand."

The WTA had also launched new digital media platforms, with a redeveloped website in multiple languages, a subscriber-based Internet television channel and plan to ramp up social media use, that dovetailed with the company's products, she said.

There was also likely to be a greater co-operation with the men's ATP Tour, with several of the top-tier events becoming combined tournaments.

"Men's and women's tennis together is magical. The fans love it. Just look at the success of the four grand slams," she said while adding there were already combined events in Miami and Indian Wells. "More combined events are part of our strategy.

"The Italian Open will become combined in 2011, Cincinnati will become combined. The Rogers Cup in Canada will be virtually combined, so that's six of the nine top events on both tours will be combined (by 2011).

"It is a recipe for success, bringing men and women together on big stages."

(Editing by Patrick Johnston)