The Hindu : Sport : Error-prone Sania struggles past Sucha

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Thursday, Feb 15, 2007
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Error-prone Sania struggles past Sucha

Nandita Sridhar

EMOTIVE: Sania Mirza was very expressive during her three-set win over Martina Sucha on Wednesday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: Sania Mirza's matches are studies in tennis schizophrenia. The good and the bad remarkably balance each other. The squeaky clean winners are not without the most horrendous of errors. The psychological fragilities are not without moments of steadiness when it matters.

Followers of her game will know that this is how her matches pan out. This is just the way she plays. But being in the know does little in changing expectations. Expecting Sania to beat a lower ranked player is reasonable. Expecting her to win error-free is not.

Defeating Martina Sucha 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Sony Ericsson International, Sania showcased her improved fitness, a multidimensional backhand, and the flattest of forehands. But old habits die hard, which explained the double faults, long balls and the show of frustration.

The match was characterized by inconsistent serving from both ends, with the breaks pouring in. Sucha watched a number of Sania's shots go past in the first set, with restricted mobility. Her shots were at a comfortable pace, which Sania could exploit.

"She expected a cross-court backhand from me most of the time, but I've added variety to my backhand, and could hit down-the-line winners as well," said Sania.

Sucha upped her level of play in the second, with an improved tactical play that sent Sania scampering for points. The Slovakian suffered because of her inability to sustain the level of play throughout the match.

Despite frustration at the line calls and overrules, Sania saved a fistful of breakpoints throughout the match, with a bout of cramps (hamstring) causing problems in the third set.

Molik beats Brianti

"I still feel the same way about my tennis. I have the right perspective now, and I want to win a lot more titles now," said Alicia Molik, after beating eighth seed Alberta Brianti 6-4, 6-3, in the first round.

The Australian made a comeback in 2006, after suffering from vestibular neuronitis, an inner-ear infection that affected her vision and balance. Molik finds herself ranked 99 now, after being as high as eighth.

The results:

Second round, singles: Yurika Sema (Jpn) bt Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) 1-6, 6-4, 6-1; Tzipora Obziler (Isr) bt Vasilisa Bardina (Rus) 6-1, 6-2; Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) bt Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) 6-4, 6-1.

First round: Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Martina Sucha (Svk) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Alicia Molik (Aus) beat Alberta Brianti (Ita) 6-4, 6-3; Mara Santangelo (Ita) beat Shengnan Sun (Chn) 6-2, 7-6 (4); Melinda Czink (Hun) beat Yung Jan Chan (Tpe) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 Doubles: First round: Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe)/ Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) beat Chin-Wei Chan (Tpe)/Meng Yuan (Chn) 6-4, 6-0; Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) beat Yanchong Chen (Chn) Shuai Zhang (Chn) 7-6, 6-3; Yaroslava Svedova (Rus) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Jpn) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Doubles: first round: Jarmila Gajdosova (Svk)/ Christina Horiatopoulos (Aus) beat Molik/Sophie Ferguson (Aus) 3-6, 6-2, 10-5.

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