The Hindu : Sport : Sania shines

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 07, 2005

Sport

Sport

Sania shines

Sania plays Vera Zvonareva next;Ginepri advances

TOKYO: Sania Mirza's fine run in the $170,000 Japan Open continues, with the Indian teen making the quarterfinals in the singles draw and the semifinals in the doubles alongh with her Israeli partner Shahar Peer.

In the second round of the singles, Mirza swept away Japanese Aiko Nakamura with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the tier III tournament, according to information received here on Thursday.

She will face Russian Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals.

Mirza was in devastating form in the first set against the 70th ranked Japanese and her power-packed groundstrokes left Nakamura baffled as the former dropped just one game in clinching the first set.

The Japanese, however, put up some fight in the second set against the 37th ranked Indian who went for winners on almost every shot, resulting in a lot of unforced errors. Her serve too started looking sloppy, but Mirza raised her game in time to seal the match.

However, she would face a tough task when she takes on Vera Zvonareva who is likely to make life difficult for her. Currently ranked 24th, the Russian beat Mirza's doubles partner Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 7-5 in the second round to set up a quarterfinal clash with the Indian.

Meanwhile, the Sania Mirza-Shahar Peer duo reached the semifinals of the doubles event.

In their quarterfinal match, the Indo-Israeli pair toyed with their opponents Tatiana Garbin of Italy and Nicole Pratt of Australia before handing them a 6-2, 6-1 defeat.

The Mirza-Peer pair was in sublime form as it dictated the match right from the beginning and conceded just three games to win the match in straight sets.

Second seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic easily beat Japan's Rika Fujiwara 6-4, 6-2, and number three Tatiana Golovin thrashed another Japanese player, Saori Obata, 6-1, 6-4.

Fourth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko, who won her first WTA title in Beijing last month, eased past Slovakian Henrieta Nagyova 6-4 6-2 to reach the last eight

Puerta crashes out

In the men's draw, top-seeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina crashed out upset 6-2, 6-7(11), 7-5 by unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the third round at Ariake Colloseum.

Puerta looked off his game in the first set Thursday and was broken twice. But he fought back in the second set when Baghdatis had three match points.

Baghdatis closed out the match by breaking in the final game.

American Robby Ginepri cruised into the quarterfinals with an efficient 6-4, 6-4 victory over Luxemburg's Gilles Muller.

The results: Men: Third round: Marcos Baghdatis bt Mariano Puerta 6-2, 6-7(11), 7-5; Robby Ginepri bt Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4; Bjorn Phau bt Kenneth Carlsen 6-1, 6-2. Second round: Mario Ancic bt Jan-Michael Gambill 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Cyril Saulnier bt Raemon Sluiter 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5; Juan Monaco bt Wayne Arthurs 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; Radek Stepanek bt Jiri Vanek 7-5, 6-4; Taylor Dent bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 7-6(3); Jarkko Nieminen bt Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 6-0; Luis Horna bt Roko Karanusic 6-2, 7-5; Wesley Moodie bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Women: Second round: Vera Zvonareva bt Shahar Peer 6-3, 7-5; Sania Mirza bt Aiko Nakamura 6-1, 6-4; Maria Kirilenko bt Henrieta Nagyova 6-4, 6-2; Jill Craybas bt Gisela Dulko 6-3, 6-3; Nicole Vaidisova bt Rika Fujiwara 6-4, 6-2; Tatiana Golovin bt Saori Obata 6-1, 6-4. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport