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Pennetta hands Sania one of her worst defeats

Kateryna Bondarenko packs off Ana Ivanovic; Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy advance

— Photo: AP

BLITZING AWAY: Italian Flavia Pennetta made short work of Sania Mirza during their second round U.S. Open tie.

NEW YORK: India’s Sania Mirza saw her US Open campaign come to a dismal end on Tuesday when she was whitewashed 6-0, 6-0 by 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy in a second round tie.

The match lasted just 50 minutes and was one of the worst defeats of her career at a tournament where she achieved her big breakthrough with a run into the fifth round in 2005.

Pennetta was dominant in every category, committing just 10 unforced errors to Sania’s 28 and hitting 20 winners to her opponent’s six.

The Indian was particularly errant on her normally reliable forehand side, spraying the ball long and wide.

“When you lose love and love there is not much you can say, but I felt I didn’t play that badly,” said Sania.

“She played exceptionally well. Everything was working for her. There are days like that and you just have to move forward.

“I told her in the locker room afterwards that if she continues to play like that she will be number one in the world.”

The 22-year-old from Hyderabad said that she still had the doubles and the mixed doubles to contest in New York and was confident she and Canadian partner Daniel Nestor could do well in the latter.

“After that I will play in Asia and just try to stay healthy for the rest of the year for once,” she added.

Sania won the Australian Open mixed doubles title at the start of the year, teaming with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi to become the first Indian pair to win any Grand Slam mixed doubles title.

The Italian, the first player from her country to break into the world top 10, underlined her outsider status and will go on to play Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada for a place in the fourth round.

All-time low

Just 15 months after winning the French Open and becoming world number one, 11th-seeded Ana Ivanovic made her first opening-round exit in 20 Grand Slam appearances.

The 21-year-old Serbian beauty squandered a match point and was ousted by Ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) in a matchup of injured rivals trying to outlast each other.

“Obviously it hurts,” Ivanovic said. “I created a lot of chances for myself and I’m really disappointed that I made a few mistakes in the important moments and my forehand let me down on a few occasions.

“I played great, set myself up and made the mistake in the net every time. It’s a little frustrating.”

Ivanovic reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the French Open and the third round at the Australian Open after fighting back from a shoulder injury, results that will leave her pondering a lost year in her career.

“It’s very disappointing. It hurts. I’m sure I will have sleepless nights,” she said. “But I have to accept it and try to put this year behind me and try to learn from it.

“As much as it hurts and was disappointing, I learned a lot about myself and what I have to do in order to become a better player.

Ivanovic’s instincts and thoughts are at war with each other when she is on the court and her results have slipped as a consequence.

“When I follow my instincts, I play great,” Ivanovic said. “Then I think I can make other shots and I feel maybe I should go different direction. That’s when bad shot selection comes. That’s just mind and emotions.”

Meanwhile in men’s doubles, Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy pulled off a hard-fought win against Romanian pair of Victor Hanescu and Gabriel Trifu to enter second round.

The fourth seeds won 7-6(11), 7-6(4) in a gruelling match that lasted 1 hour and 47 minutes.

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Women: singles: Second round: 18-Li Na (Chn) bt Michelle Larcher de Brito (Por) 6-1, 6-3; Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) bt 17-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) 6-4, 6-0; 10-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-0, 6-0; 31-Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Jill Craybas (U.S.) 7-6(6), 6-1.

First round: Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt 11-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7); Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Monique Adamczak (Aus) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; 29-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 6-3, 6-0 21-Zheng Jie (Chn) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) 6-3, 6-2; 4-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 6-1, 6-2; 5-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Roberta Vinci (Ita) 6-2, 6-3.

Shahar Peer (Isr) bt 32-Agnes Szavay (Hun) 6-2, 6-2; Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt 27-Alisa Kleybanova (Rus) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2; 13-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 6-3, 6-3.

1-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Olivia Rogowska (Aus) 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4; Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; 23-Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt Aravane Rezai (Fra) 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-1; 19-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Lucie Safarova (Cze) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6); 30-Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-3, 7-5.

Men: singles: First round: 13-Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra), 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; 2-Andy Murray (GBR) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 7-5, 6-3, 7-5; Ivan Navarro (Esp) bt 27-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 6-4, 7-6(8), 7-6(5); Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) bt 19-Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 6-3; Taylor Dent (U.S.) bt Feliciano Lopez (Esp) 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-5; 22-Sam Querrey (U.S.) bt Michael Yani (U.S.) 6-3, 7-5, 6-4; Kevin Kim (U.S.) bt Dudi Sela (Isr) 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2; Florent Serra (Fra) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) 7-6(8), 7-6(5), 7-6(5); Paul Capdeville (Chi) bt Victor Crivoi (Rom) 6-3, 6-0, 7-6(2); 11-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Nicolas Massu (Chi) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Jesse Levine (U.S.) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 7-5, 6-1, 6-2; Josselin Ouanna (Fra) bt Rajeev Ram (U.S.) 7-6(4), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; 4-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 16-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Ryan Sweeting (U.S.) 7-6(2), 6-4, 7-6(4); 30-Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Peter Luczak (Aus) 6-3, 6-3, 1-6, 2-6, 6-1; 17-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Wayne Odesnik (U.S.) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; Julien Benneteau (Fra) bt Flavio Cipolla (Ita) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; 10-Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt Benjamin Becker (Ger) 7-5, 6-4, 7-5; Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) bt Karol Beck (Svk) 2-6, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Fabio Fognini (Ita) 7-5, 7-6(6), 6-4.

Doubles: First round: 4-Leander Paes (Ind) & Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) bt Victor Hanescu & Gabriel Trifu (Rom) 7-6(11), 7-6(4). — Agencies

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