The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sania beats Bondarenko

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sania beats Bondarenko

Birmingham: Sania Mirza, seeded 14th, was stretched to three sets by Alona Bondarenko before prevailing 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of the $ 200,000 DFS Classic here on Tuesday.

Brilliant in patches, the Hyderabad girl looked determined to prove a point on the grass court. Sania broke her rival three times to race away with the first set 6-2.

However, the Ukrainian raised her game in the second while Sania suffered a slump in form. The Indian committed too many errors and Bondarenko drew level, winning the set 6-3.

However, Sania kept her nerve in the decider to progress to the second round.

In the Stella Artois tournament in London, fifth-seeded James Blake defeated Justin Gimelstob 7-5, 6-1 in an all-American, second-round match.

On Monday, Briton Tim Henman spoiled the comeback scenario for Andre Agassi as he defeated the tennis icon 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.

Important results:

At London (Stella Artois championship): Second round: James Blake bt Justin Gimelstob 7-5, 6-1; First round: Mardy Fish bt Jamie Baker 6-1, 6-3; Dmitry Tursunov bt Alex Bogdanovic 7-6(4), 6-4. Tim Henman bt Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-4; Daniele Bracciali bt Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 7-6(4); Yen-Hsun Lu bt Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-6(7); Ramon Delgado bt Lukas Dlouhy 6-4, 7-6(3); Razvan Sabau bt Robin Vik 6-3, 6-3; Justin Gimelstob bt Raemon Sluiter 7-6(7), 6-2; Danai Udomchoke bt Tomas Zib 3-6, 7-5, 6-0; Antony Dupuis bt Greg Rusedski 5-7, 6-3, 3-2, retd.; Gael Monfils bt Jurgen Melzer 7-6(2), 7-6(2); Hyung-taik Lee bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6(2), 6-7(3), 6-4.

At Halle (Gerry Weber Open): First round: Richard Gasquet bt George Bastl 6-2, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro bt Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(4), 6-2; Marat Safin bt Florent Serra 7-6(4), 6-3; Marco Chiudinelli bt Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-4.

At Birmingham (WTA DFS Classic): First round: Sania Mirza bt Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Nicole Pratt bt Peng Shuai 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Bethanie Mattek bt Julia Schruff 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-1; Jarmila Gajdosova bt Yuan Meng 6-3, 6-4. — Agencies

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