The Hindu : Sport : Now Sania in the spotlight

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Monday, Feb 12, 2007
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Now Sania in the spotlight

Nandita Sridhar

LOCAL HOPEFUL: Tara Iyer of India has been given a wild card. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: Without Serena Williams's licensed tennis savagery, I'm-my-biggest-fan solipsism, and the Grand Slam brand worth, it will be up to Sania Mirza to deal her opponents a bigger blow than what the Australian Open champion dealt the tournament, to keep the Sony Ericsson International WTA tennis tournament alive.

If the American's pull out wasn't enough, the tournament will start a day late, after organisers announced that the start had been postponed to Tuesday in view of the state-wide bandh called by Kannada organisations against the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal verdict.

"The KSLTA and the Government of Karnataka have taken the decision collectively, to reschedule the matches in view of the safety and the security of the spectators, players and everyone associated with the tournament," said Sunder Raju, Tournament Director, and Secretary, KSLTA, on Sunday.

"This is the first time that we are postponing the start of a tournament due to such a reason. It's going to be hard on the players," said WTA supervisor Melanie Heuer.

Lot at stake

Fewer hours of rest will be the least of her worries, as Sania will once again occupy centre-stage, with her every shot scrutinised, every mistake slotted as unpardonable, and every loss a reminder that she has a long way to go. With her, the line that separates hope and expectation thins down to near-invisibility. But this time, expecting her to do well is justifiable hope.

The 20-year-old has two semifinal appearances to her credit in 2007, and a good performance at the Hopman Cup in January. With Serena's pull out, things could not have panned out better for Sania, who now has a serious shot at winning her second WTA singles title.

Sania's improved backhand and improving fitness are positives for the fans to hope and expect good results, both with equal measure.

Indians fail to qualify

Sandhya Nagaraj, Asha Nandakumar, Ankita Bhambri and Arthi Venkataraman lost their respective second round qualifying matches on Sunday. Nudnida Luangnam, Chin-Wei Chan, Shengnan Sun and Yurika Sema qualified for the main draw.

Qualifying results (Indians unless otherwise specified): Third and final round: Nudnida Luangnam (Tha) bt Andreja Klepac (Slo) 6-3, 7-5; Chin-Wei Chan (Tpe) bt Sandy Gumulya (Ina) 6-1, 6-3; Shengnan Sun (Chn) bt Amina Rakhim (Kaz) 6-1, 6-3; Yurika Sema (Jpn) bt Jing Ren (Chn) 6-2, 6-2. Second round: Nudnida Luangnam bt Asha Nandakumar 6-2, 6-2; Sandy Gumulya bt Sandhya Nagaraj 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Yurika Sema bt Arthi Venkataraman 6-0, 6-0; Chin-Wei Chan bt Xinyun Han (Chn) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4; Andreja Klepac (Slo)-Bye; Shengnan Sun bt Ankita Bhambri 6-1, 6-3; Jing Ren bt Shuai Zhang (Chn) 6-3, 6-2; Amina Rakhim bt Lavinia Tananta (Ina) 6-3, 6-4.

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