Anup’s Home Page

Indian Wells: Sania Mirza crashed out of the of the $2.1 million WTA Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells.Sania lost to Russia’s Elena Dementieva 7-5, 4-6, 4-6 in her third round singles match.World number eight Dementieva looked a little rusty in the first set, but played some exciting tennis in the second and third set.Though Sania had a high first serve percentage, but lost out on the points on first serve.She also had a lower percentage on receiving points.In total, she won 99 points as compared to Dementieva’s 107.Sania, who had slipped to 45 in world rankings last week, had earlier defeated local qualifier Bethanie Mattek 6-2 3-6 7-5 in the second round of the Tier I tournament to set up a clash against Dementieva.

INDIAN WELLS: India’s Sania Mirza is hoping to renew her doubles partnership with Israel’s Shahar Peer despite protests from some Muslim and Jewish groups. Mirza said she would have played with Peer at this week’s Pacific Life Open, but the Israeli player had already booked a partner.“You shouldn’t mix up sports with anything else,’’ she said at the March 8-19 tournament in Indian Wells. “If I had to follow the stereotype of what a woman athlete should be in India, then I wouldn’t be playing tennis because there aren’t many girls who pick up rackets when they are six. If you believe it’s right, if your loved ones believe it’s right, then it’s right.’’
Related Stories
Sania to pair up with Israel’s Peer again
Likhovtseva, Mirza agree to play Charleston tournament
Sania-Maria storm into second round
For Sania it’s ‘shop till you drop’ in Dubai
Sania moves up to 36th spot
Sania row: Pairing with Israeli risky
More Sania Mirza News >>
Mirza and Peer united for the first time when they reached the quarter-finals of the event in Bangkok last October, but their partnership was met with anger by some religious groups. “We’re playing sports. We don’t think about politics,” Peer said, during Bangkok tournament.Saina’s results in 2006 have been poor. “You should never be satisfied. People come up with that I’m the first Indian woman to accomplish blah, blah, blah, and that’s the hardest part for me. I would like to believe I’m tough enough to cope with all this pressure, but everyone has their moments.We’re not machines, we’re human. We have our breakdowns and feel lonely,” she said.

New Delhi, Mar 7 Three second round losses in recent past and one week’s lay-off from competition pushed Sania Mirza nine places down to 45th in the latest WTA singles rankings.With 489.75 panking points to her credit, Sania was the biggest loser among the top 50 players in the circuit with as many as eight lower-ranked players moving ahead of her this week in the rankings headed by Kim Clijsters of Belgium, according to information received here.The 19-year-old Hyderabadi, however, maintained her previous week’s 64th spot in doubles ranking.Meanwhile, all other Indian women moved down the ladder except US-based Shikha Uberoi who jumped 11 places to move up to 149th, with Ankita Bhambri (363th), Rushmi Chakravarthi (373rd), Sanaa Bhambri (470th) and Shruti Dhawan (512th) failing to raise their rankings.Top 10 rankings: 1. Kim Clijsters (Bel); 2. Amelie Mauresmo (Fra); 3. Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel); 4. Lindsay Davenport (USDA); 5. Maria Sharapova (Rus); 6. Mary Pierce (Fra); 7. Nadia Petrova (Rus); 8. Elena Dementieva (Rus); 9. Patty Schnyder (Sui); 10. Venus Williams (USA)