The Hindu : Sport : Sania rallies to shock Kuznetsova

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005

Sport

Sport

Sania rallies to shock Kuznetsova

DUBAI, MARCH 1. Sania Mirza made light of a twisted ankle and a 0-4 start to beat the U.S. Open Champion and the world No. 7, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 19 minutes of exhilarating play in the pre-quarterfinals of the $1,000,000 Dubai Open women's tennis championship here on Tuesday.

The 97th ranked Sania has assured herself of 102 WTA points, including 43 quality points, for beating a player ranked 6 to 10. She may reach up to No. 77 with this win. She has also assured herself of $24,085 for making the quarterfinals.

Cheered by a partisan crowd, the 18-year-old Hyderabad girl turned the match around by reeling off six games in a row, after having needed medical attention for a sprained ankle during the third game of the first set.

"This is the best day of my career! It is great, just unbelievable," gushed Sania, even as she was being attended to by the tournament trainer after the match, with her ankle strapped with an ice pack.

During those six games of revival, Sania did not allow Kuznetsova to convert gamepoints in the fifth and ninth games, while she herself saved three breakpoints in the sixth game and one more in the tenth game.

Into the second set, Sania broke Kuznetsova in the first game, but the Russian broke back to be on par. It was here that Sania, hitting as fluently as she has been seen to do these days, outplayed the Russian, conceding a solitary game in the next five games.

She stopped the Russian from converting any of the three gamepoints in the third game and held serve at love in the next.

Sania broke Kuznetsova in the seventh game after being down 0-30, and did so the second time with a rousing forehand cross-court winner that announced as to who the boss was this day.

With Daniela Hantuchova in the commentary box thoroughly impressed, as was the whole world, Sania saved five breakpoints in the eighth game in which she was 0-40 down, to wind up the show in style.

Best win

This was the best win by Sania who had beaten a top-40 player for the first time in the first round when she got past Jelena Kostanic of Croatia in three sets.

It was a brave effort, especially so in the ninth game of the first set when Sania forced the decisive break after the Russian had held a gamepoint.

She saved breakpoint in the tenth game at 30-40 and closed out the set, despite not getting her first serves, to clinch the initiative.

Sania had one ace and five double-faults to six aces and three double-faults by the Russian. The best part about Sania's game was that she converted all of the six breakpoints that she had, while saving nine of the 12 breakpoints that she faced.

It was indeed an incredible play by the young girl against a seasoned pro. Sania won 67 points to 58 by Kuznetsova.The excited media was waiting for long for the post match press conference, but Sania was sweet in answering a couple of quick questions, though she said that she had no answers as to how it all happened or how she managed such a dramatic turn-around after having won only two points in the first four games, with a sprained ankle to boot.

"I really don't have answers to all these questions. It just happened! I was not moving well because of the injury, but the rest of my game was fine. Still, it is just amazing how it all happened," said Sania before rushing back to continue with her treatment.

The results:

Second round: Sania Mirza bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2.

First round: Daniela Hantuchova bt Alicia Molik 7-6(8), 6-2; Elena Bovina bt Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 3-6, 6-4; Marion Bartoli bt Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-4; Elena Likhovtseva bt Selima Sfar 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5); Zheng Jie bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-6(4), 6-2; Li Na bt Ai Sugiyama 1-6, 7-6(1), 6-2; Nathalie Dechy bt Vera Douchevina 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-6(4).

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