The Hindu : Sport : Sania sweeps past Safina; Kirilenko advances

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Saturday, Aug 04, 2007
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Sania sweeps past Safina; Kirilenko advances

Paes-Damm enter semifinals; Bhupathi-Henman lose at the Legg Mason Classic

— PHOTO: AP

BIG WIN: Maria Kirilenko stunned third-ranked Jelena Jankovic at the Acura Classic tennis tournament on Thursday.

CARLSBAD: Sania Mirza continued with her dream form to sweep past eighth seed Russian Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-2 to set up an exciting quarterfinal clash with World No. 2 and defending champion Maria Sharapova at the $1.3 million WTA Acura Classic tennis tournament here on Thursday.

The Indian, who has won 10 of her last 12 matches, would take on top seed Sharapova after the Russian outplayed Tatiana Golovin of France 6-0, 6-3 in her third-round match at the WTA Tier I hard court event.

Sania and Sharapova have clashed only once earlier when the Russian demolished the Indian 6-2, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals of the 2005 U.S. Open Grand Slam.

The unseeded Indian, who was playing Safina for the first time, outpaced her on the baseline and struck powerful strokes to take a 5-0 lead in the first set.

Safina, younger sister of the mercurial Marat Safin, threw her racquet in frustration after sending a forehand wide to drop serve for the third time in the set.

Safina managed to get a break in the sixth game when Sania double-faulted on break point but that ended up being the only game the Russian won in the opening set.

In the final game with Safina serving, Sania earned a break point after the World No.14 double-faulted but squandered the opportunity by sailing a forehand beyond the baseline.

However, the 20-year-old Indian got a second chance with an inside out forehand down the line. She closed out the set with a service return winner.

Safina tried to claw back into the match and broke Sania at love to open the second set. However, the Indian broke back and went on to take a 4-1 lead.

Two games later, Safina served to stay in the match trailing 2-5 but Sania broke her at love to seal the match after an hour and four minutes.However, it turned out be a disappointing day for Sania in doubles as the Indian and her Israeli partner Shahar Peer crashed out in the second round. The Indo-Israeli pair lost to Su-Wei Hseih (Taipei) and Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-3, 3-6, 10-12.

Venus shines

Venus Williams beat Daniela Hantuchova again, eliminating the No. 6 seed from the Acura Classic with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

Earlier, Maria Kirilenko earned the biggest victory of her career with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over No. 3 ranked Jelena Jankovic.

Kirilenko, unseeded and ranked 42nd in the world, needed three match points in the third set to finish off Jankovic, the No. 2 seed. Kirilenko, 20, beat a top-10 player for the just the third time in her career, but this was her first victory against Jankovic.

Indians’ tale

Meanwhile, second seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damm rallied to beat South African Chriss Haggard and Croat Ivo Karlovic to advance to the semifinals of the $600,000 Legg Mason Classic in Washington. The Indo-Czech pair beat Haggard and Karlovic 6-7, 6-3, 10-8.

Earlier, Paes and Damm defeated wildcards Somdev Dev Varman and John Isner of the U.S. 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 to reach the second round.

In a first round match in doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and Britain’s Tim Henman went down to Paul Hanley of Australia and Zimbabwe’s Kevin Ullyett 6-4, 7-5.

Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick and Marat Safin overcame tight three-set struggles to advance to the singles quarterfinals. Roddick saved three break points in the final set to beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, while Safin finally got the better of Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-7(2), 7-5.

The results:

At Carlsbad: WTA Acura Classic (third round): Elena Dementieva bt Marion Bartoli 6-4, 7-5; Nadia Petrova bt Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 7-6(10); Sania Mirza bt Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-2; Maria Kirilenko bt Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 3-6, 7-5; Anna Chakvetadze bt Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4; Maria Sharapova bt Tatiana Golovin 6-0, 6-3; Patty Schnyder bt Martina Hingis 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-3; Venus Williams bt Daniela Hantuchova 6-0, 6-3.

At Washington: ATP Legg Mason Classic (third round): Ivo Karlovic bt Vince Spadea 6-2, 6-4; Paul Capdeville bt Thomas Johansson 7-6(5), 6-3; Gael Monfils bt Michael Berrer 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3; Tommy Haas bt Michael Russ ell 6-3, 6-4; John Isner bt Wayne Odesnik 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 7-6(2); Lee Hyung-Taik bt Julien Benneteau 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Andy Roddick bt Radek Stepanek 6-3, 1-6, 7-5; Marat Safin bt Robin Haase 7-5, 6-7(2), 7-5.

At Sopot: ATP Prokom Open (second round): Albert Montanes bt Mariano Zabaleta 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Martin Vassallo Arguello bt Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 6-3, 2-1 (retd.); Stefan Koubek bt Kristof Vliegen 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Tommy Robredo bt Steve Da rcis 1-6, 6-0, 7-5.

At Stockholm: WTA Nordic Light Open (second round): Stephanie Cohen-Aloro bt Youlia Fedossova 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Dominika Cibulkova bt Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3; Caroline Wozniacki bt Elena Vesnina 7-5, 6-1. — Age ncies

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