The Hindu : Sport : Sania sails into third round

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Friday, Aug 31, 2007
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Sania sails into third round

Nadal overcomes pain and Alun Jones

— Photo: AP

SHEER FLUIDITY: Rafael Nadal is all grace in motion as he runs down a return in his first round match against Alun Jones on Wednesday.

NEW YORK: India’s Sania Mirza advanced to the third round of the US Open with a 6-3, 7-5 victory on Thursday over US veteran Laura Granville, booking a revenge match against Russian nemesis Anna Chakvetadze.

Sania, seeded 26th, blasted six aces and 33 winners past the 60th-ranked American but the 20-year-old prodigy made 33 unforced errors and let two match points slip through her hands before finishing off Granville after 82 minutes.

“In the second set she started playing a lot better. It was just a good match. She is a really good player,” Sania said.

“I’m happy where I am but I would like to be a little further up. I’m just taking it one match at a time. I’m quite happy with how I’m playing.”

Sania next faces sixth seed Chakvetadze, who has won four tournaments this year, three of them after beating Sania. Chakvetadze advanced by ousting Australian veteran Nicole Pratt 6-3, 6-4 in 72 minutes.

The Russian ousted Sania in a Hobart semifinal in January and defeated her again last month in a Cincinnati semifinal and the final at Stanford.

Even fight

Granville broke Sania to open the match but the Indian answered by breaking back in the next game. They held serve until Sania hit a forehand volley winner for a break and a 4-2 lead, then screamed with delight and pumped her right fist.

The joy was short lived as Granville broke back in the seventh game.

The American double faulted to surrender a break in the eighth game and Sania took the set on a forehand winner after 36 minutes.

Sania and Granville again traded breaks to open the second set.

Granville then surrendered her next two service games as well, netting a forehand in the third game and pushing a backhand wide in the fifth.

Granville broke back in the sixth game but Sania was serving for the set with a 5-4 lead and had two match points when disaster struck.

Sania netted a backhand and sent a forehand wide to squander her chances to take the set, then watched Granville swat a forehand crosscourt winner on the line to break and level the set 5-5.

Sania appealed the in-call to the HawkEye replay system but the decision stood.

Sania responded by breaking Granville for a seventh time and holding out to win, chasing down an overhead smash and firing an impressive crosscourt winner to deny Granville a break point before closing out the match.

Kuznetsova advances

Svetlana Kuznetsova pounded her way into the third round, while Donald Young took a more leisurely path on Thursday.

The fourth-seeded Kuznetsova didn’t dally in beating Camille Pin of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. Young won in a walkover when No. 13 Richard Gasquet of France withdrew because of a fever and a sore throat.

In other early matches, No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia beat Nicole Pratt 6-3, 6-4.

While the Williams sisters, Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin advanced as expected, Isner gave himself a chance to play the world’s top-ranked player at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Following his first-round upset of No. 26 Jarkko Nieminen, Isner beat Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4).

Roger Federer, as usual, made it look easy. Trying for his fourth straight U.S. Open title, he dismantled Paul Capdeville 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal’s knee was taped up, the pain was so bad he nearly pulled out of the tournament. He lost the first six points of the match, then the three-time French Open winner hit his stride and beat Australian wildcard Alun Jones 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.

“I didn’t run too much, no? I can’t move too much,” the No. 2-seeded Nadal said. “Difficult to play like this, especially here.” — Agencies

THE RESULTS Men’s singles: Second round: Donald Young (USA) w/o 13-Richard Gasquet (Fra); Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-0, 604, 6-3; John Isner (USA) bt Rik de Voest (RSA) 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4); 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Paul Cap deville (Chi) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. First round: Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; 11-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Nicolas Devilder (Fra) 6-0, 6-1, 6-2; 25-Marat Safin (Rus) bt Frank Dancevic (Can) 7-5, 7-6(5), 7-6(7); Ernests Gulbis (Lat) bt Potito Starace (Ita) 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-3; Michael Berrer (Ger) bt Michal Przysiezny (Pol) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4); Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Oscar Hernandez (Esp) 7-5, 6-1, 6-3; Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt Evgeny Korolev (Rus) 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Robby Ginepri (USA.) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 6-0, 6-3, 6-1.

Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Bobby Reynolds (USA.) 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-1; Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Bjorn Phau (Ger) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; Mardy Fish (USA.) bt Bruno Echagaray (Mex) 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 , 2-6, 7-5.

Tim Henman (GBr) bt 27-Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 2-Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Alun Jones (Aus) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Ryan Sweeting (USA.) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) bt 7-Fernando Gonzale z (Chi) 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 5-7, 6-4.

Women’s singles: Second round: 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0; 26-Sania Mirza (Ind) bt Laura Granville (USA) 6-3, 7-5; Jelena Kostanic Tosic(Cro) bt Julia Vakulenko(Ukr) 6-2, 6-1; Tamira Paszek(Aut) bt 24-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 6-3, 7-5;31-Anabel Medina Garrigues(Esp) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino(Esp) 7-5, 6-2; 18-Shahar Peer(Isr) bt Bethanie Mattek (USA) 6 -2, 6-1; 6-Anna Chakvetadze(Rus) bt Nicole Pratt(Aus)6-3, 6-4; 11-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Severine Bremond(Fra) 6-3, 6-0; 5-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Aravane Rezai (Fra) 6-3, 6-1; 19-Sybille Bammer (Aut) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA.) 6-4, 6-3; Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt 28-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; 12-Venus Williams (USA.) bt Ioana Raluca Olaru (Rom) 6-4, 6-2; 14-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Petra Cetkovska (Cze) 6-3, 6-2; 1-Justine Henin (Bel) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 6-4, 6-0; 21-Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3; 15-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-2, 6-1; 20-Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 6-3, 6-3.

10-Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Sara Errani (Ita) 6-4, 6-2; 3-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 6-2, 6-2; 7-Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; 8-Serena Williams (USA.) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Ita) 7-5, 6-2.

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