The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sania eases past Shaughnessy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 03, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Sania eases past Shaughnessy

New Delhi: Sania Mirza breezed past American Meghann Shaughnessy in their first head-to-head meeting to move into the second round of the Acura Classic at San Diego, California, on Tuesday.

The Indian teen beat the local girl 6-3, 6-1 to set up a second round encounter with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.

Playing before an enthusiastic crowd on the grandstand, Sania got past the World No. 79 in a little over an hour's time. The American held her first two service games but from that point almost everything went downhill for her.

Sania broke Shaughnessy's serve and went on to take a 5-3 lead in the opening set and then broke her with a close call on breakpoint that went against Shaughnessy.

In the second set, Sania took a 2-1 lead and then went on to break Shaughnessy twice to lead 5-1. Serving for the match, the Indian blasted an ace to start the game and had little trouble after that in sealing the match. Sania had reached the third round of the tournament last year as a qualifier.

Hingis advances

Meanwhile, five years since her last appearance here, Martina Hingis made a triumphant return as she eliminated American qualifier Meilen Tu 6-2, 6-3, in a second-round match.

Warmly welcomed by fans, Hingis struggled initially but regained her rhythm to move ahead in the star-studded tournament, which also has Belgian Kim Clijsters, Russian Maria Sharapova and defending champion Mary Pierce of France in the draw.

Agassi bows out

Five-time champion Andre Agassi was upset 6-4, 6-3 by Italian qualifier Andrea Stoppini in the second round of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington DC.

Also, sixth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France fell 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark defeated ninth-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3.

Top-seeded James Blake avoided the upset bug, advancing past fellow American Kevin Kim 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Dev Varman loses

In first-round action, India's Somdev Dev Varman, playing on a wild-card, lost 6-4, 6-0 to Edgardo Massa. Meanwhile, Ramon Delgado of Paraguay fired 17 aces in defeating Peter Luczak of Australia 6-4, 6-4.

The results: At San Diego (WTA Acura Classic): Second round: Martina Hingis bt Melien Tu 6-2, 6-3; Maria Sharapova bt Vassilissa Bardina 6-4, 6-1; Nicole Vaidisova bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1, 6-0. First round: Anna Chakvetadze bt Jelena Kostanic 6-4, 6-3; Amy Frazier bt Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 7-6(7); Alona Bondarenko bt Ivana Lisjak 6-2, 7-6(2); Katarina Srebotnik bt Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-0; Daniela Hantuchova bt Kveta Peschke 6-1, 4-0 (retd.); Sania Mirza bt Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3, 6-1; Ashley Harkleroad bt Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-3; Gisela Dulko bt Shahar Peer 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Elena Vesnina bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Vera Zvonareva bt Ai Sugiyama 6-1, 7-5.

At Washington DC (ATP Legg Mason Classic): Second round: Andrea Stoppini bt Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-3; Tim Henman bt Phillip King 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5; James Blake bt Kevin Kim 7-5, 3-6, 6-2; Marat Safin bt Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Kenneth Carlsen bt Paradorn Srichaphan 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3; Wesley Moodie bt Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Arnaud Clement bt Ryan Sweeting 6-2, 6-1. First round: Gilles Muller bt Paul Capdeville 3-6, 7-6(7), 4-0 (retd.); Edgardo Massa bt Somdev Dev Varman 6-4, 6-0; Ramon Delgado bt Peter Luczak 6-4, 6-4; Hyung-taik Lee bt Frank Dancevic 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

At Sopot (ATP Orange Prokom Open): First round: Jiri Vanek bt Alessio Di Mauro 7-6(3), 6-0; Martin Vassalo Arguello bt Marcos Daniel 6-4, 2-0 (retd.); Gaston Gaudio bt Boris Pashanski 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-4; Juan Monaco bt Jurgen Melzer 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4; Tommy Robredo bt Ivo Minar 7-6(5); 3-6, 6-4; Carlos Berlocq bt Phillip Kohlschreiber 6-0, 6-2; Filippo Volandri bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4, 6-1; Juan Ignacio Chela bt Adrian Garcia 6-3, 6-2; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bt Mariano Zabaleta 7-6(4), 7-5; Oliver Marach bt Alexander Waske 6-4, 7-6(6); Raemon Sluiter bt Grzegorz Panfil 6-1, 6-3; Florian Mayer bt Lukasz Kubot 6-1, 6-2; Agustin Calleri bt Hugo Armando 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4).

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