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Sania Mirza has crashed out of the first round of the MPS Group Championships tennis.

The unseeded Indian went down to seventh seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 4-6, 3-6 here Monday.

Sania Mirza rose to No.68, an improvement of 19 places, in the doubles ranking on the back of her strong showing in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami where she reached the last-four stage with partner Chia-jung Chuang of Taiwan. However, Sania remained at No.100 on the singles list in the WTA rankings released Monday.

Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang of China bowed out in straight sets against third seeds Lisa Raymond of USA and her Czech partner Kveta Peschke in the women’s doubles semifinal of the USD 4.5 million Miami Masters here.
The unseeded Indo-Chinese duo lost 6-7 (5/7) 4-6 making way for Raymond and Peschke to enter the final of the prestigious hard court event here late last night.

Sania and Chuang matched their higher-ranked opponent game by game in the opening set and stretched the affair into tie-breaker but they were soon overpowered by the USA-Czech pair.
Sania and Chuang ran out of steam in the second set and put up just a feeble resistance as their opponents easily sealed the match.

Raymond and Peschke will meet wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Amelie Mauresmo of France, who reached the final after defeating Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 7-6 (9/6) 6-3 in another last four match.

Sania Mirza and her partner Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan continued their giant-killing ways by knocking out the second-seeded Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 7-6(4) in the quarterfinals and make the last four in the women’s doubles event at the Sony Ericsson Open here on Wednesday.

Sania Mirza and her partner Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan rallied to stun eighth seeds Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Pennetta in a gruelling three-setter for a place in the women’s doubles quarterfinal of the USD 4.5 million Miami Masters here.
Sania and Chuang shocked the fancied Russian-Italian pair 4-6 7-6 (5) 10-4 to enter the last-eight stage.

The unseeded Indo-Taiwanese duo will next take on the winners of the match between the Argentine-Israeli team of Gisela Dulko and Shahar Peer and the Spanish combine of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual.

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy made a spectacular start to their campaign in the USD 4,500,000 Miami Masters event as they stormed into the doubles pre-quaterfinals after a crushing 6-2 6-2 win over Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Monaco.
The fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair took just 46 minutes to dispatch the Chile pair in the first round in Miami. In the women’s event, Sania Mirza and Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Jung Chuang earned a hard fought 6-4 7-5 win over the Czech combination of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova Zahlavova to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
Paes-Dlouhy converted all the four breakpoints and saved three on their own serve to ran away with the first set. The second set too belonged to the winners as they converted both the break points that came their way to seal the issue.
Sania and Chuang converted both the breakpoints in the first set and saved two while saving one.
In the second set, seven breaks were traded with the Indo-Taipei pair getting four en route to win. Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles, seeded third, will open their campaign against French pair of Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

source :Espnstar
Physio Heath Matthews recounts his experiences with Sania mirzaI have been working with Indian athletes since December 2005. It was at that time that I met Mahesh Bhupathi during a tennis preseason training camp in South Africa.
From there I travelled with Mahesh and Wesley Moodie on the ATP tour for 9 months. It was a great experience and I learnt many things interacting with some of the world’s top physios and trainers. Mahesh is a real hero for Indian sport. Not only has he done his country proud in standing at the top of the world ranking with fellow countrymen Leander Paes, but he has actively sort to improve the standing of Indian tennis with his tennis academy in Bangalore and his involvement with Mittal Champions Trust. I have a huge amount of respect for him.
In November 2006 Mahesh asked me to start working with Sania Mirza. Sania was contracted with Globosport which is Mahesh’s sports management company and thus Mahesh thought that it in Sania’s best interests that I work with her on her fitness.
My first experience of India was in November 2006 when I travelled to Hyderabad to work with Sania for 3 weeks on a preseason training program. I travelled and worked with Sania throughout 2007 until The All England Wimbledon Championships in July of that year.
Our partnership got off to a flying start with Sania winning Silver in the Woman’s Singles and a Gold in the Mixed at the Asian in games in Doha. 2007 was a more challenging year with Sania’s knee injury in early March of that year. It was a trying time for her but she dealt with the surgery very well and was very dedicated to her recovery program. She did so well that she came back and won the doubles title in her first tournament back in Morocco.
Sadly my time came to an end with Sania after Wimbledon. I was offered the opportunity to work for the Mittal Champions Trust as Director of Athletic Performance. At the time I was happy that Sania was in good hands with her coach Gaby from Spain. My career was pulling me in a different direction I needed to follow it deeper into India.

Sania Mirza’s lean patch continued as the Indian ace crashed out of the USD 4,500,000 Sony Ericsson Open after losing a gruelling first round match against world number 65 Mathilde Johansson of France here.
Sania, a wild card entrant, won the first set but could not survive the battle of nerves and lost 6-1 6-7 (2) 6-7 (8) against her rival. Also making a first round exit was India’s teen sensation Yuki Bhambri, who put up a valiant fight against world number 73 Diego Junqueira of Argentina.
The 15-year-old Indian wild card showed a steely resolve as he kept his seasoned opponent in fight for one hour and 22 minutes before losing 4-6 3-6. Sania had failed to move beyond the second round at Indian Wells last week.
The Indian ace, world number 100, will now compete in the doubles event for which she has teamed up with Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Jung Chuang. The pair will take on the Czech combination of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova Zahlavova in the opening round.

Sania Mirza, has been lucky to receive the wildcard. The Indian has dropped 13 places to be ranked 100 and was originally scheduled to compete in the qualifying tournament.
She would open her campaign against World No. 65 Mathilde Johansson of France Thursday. The winner between the two will run into World No. 2 and second seed Dinara Safina of Russia, who got a bye in the first round.
In the doubles, Sania partnering Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei will play Czech pair Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the opening round.

The second of four Premier Mandatory events on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s new-look calendar takes place this fortnight, in the form of the $4,500,000 Sony Ericsson Open.Sania mirza will open her campaign against Dinara Safina