Sania Mirza crashed out of the women’s doubles event after losing a thriller.Fourteenth seeds Sania and Francesca Schiavone of Italy made a smart recovery from a set down but failed to deliver at crucial points in the decider to lose 2-6, 6-1, 5-7 against the unseeded duo of Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Shahar Peer of Israel in a 125-minute second round match.

The opening set saw Dulko and Peer having the upper hand in service by firing three aces while Sania and Schiavone struggled with their serves as they dropped two of them to give away the first set 2-6 in 27 minutes.The Indo-Italian pair staged a fine recovery in the second set as they tightened their service game and engaged their rivals in long rallies which they won most of the time.

Sania and Schiavone broke Dulko and Peer twice in the second set while giving them no chance to do the same.

Both the pairs reserved their best for the decider which lasted 68 minutes. Sania and Schiavone smashed three aces but failed to win the crucial points.

With most of the games being stretched to deuces, breakpoints changed sides and Dulko and Peer converted more of them than their Indo-American opponents.

Dulko and Peer converted two of the nine breakpoints, while Sania and Schiavone won one out of seven.

Sania Mirza offered no excuses following her 6-0 6-0 whitewash at the hands of 10th seed Flavia Pennetta at the US Open on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Mirza had no chance against the in-form Pennetta, the first Italian woman to reach the world’s top 10.

“If she plays like that, she’s going to win the Open,” Mirza told reporters following the 50-minute, second-round blowout under sunny skies at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

“I wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m playing such horrible tennis.’ She had an answer for everything. That’s something you just have to deal with and move on. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

While Pennetta has been riding a hot streak, winning the title in Los Angeles last month, world number 74 Mirza has been playing most of her tennis on the ITF circuit, a level below the main tour.

The first set was over in 22 minutes and though Mirza had a game point in the first and fifth games of the second, she could not get on the scoreboard.

Mirza said she could not recall ever getting blanked in a tennis match, even as a junior.

“I could have been more aggressive but then again she didn’t give me a chance to do anything,” said Mirza. “She was there from the word go. She was so aggressive.”

The 27-year-old Pennetta, who lost only four games in her first-round match against Romania’s Edina Gallovits, had only 10 unforced errors against Mirza.

Mirza said Pennetta always had a great backhand but her improved forehand has made her particularly dangerous.

“Suddenly you’re thinking, ‘What do I do now?’ She’s hitting from both the flanks and she’s hitting really well,” said the Mumbai-born Mirza. “She was all over the place.

“I told her in the locker room, ‘If you play like this you’re going to be number one in the world.’

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi will be playing with different partners in the mixed doubles event of the ongoing US Open tennis championships
The Australian Open mixed doubles champions reached the decision due to uncertainity over Sania’s participation in the event because of her troubled wrist, which was operated upon last year.

Sania’s father Imran Mirza told IANS that her wrist was troubling her again and she wanted to wait till she was sure of playing in the mixed doubles.

‘Sania’s wrist has been hurting on and off over the last few weeks and she was not sure whether she would play the mixed doubles event. She wanted to decide at the last moment after gauging the condition of her injury,’ the elder Mirza said Thursday.

‘Under the circumstances, we thought it would not be fair on Mahesh as he could end up missing out on the event if Sania was forced to back out at the last moment. Hence, it was mutually decided that he would finalise another partner for himself and in case Sania decided to play at the last moment, she would try to find someone who was still available.’

Bhupathi, who has seven Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, has paired up with the experienced American Liezel Huber and they have received top billing. The pair will open against American Vania King and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.

Sania has entered the event with 37-year old doubles specialist Daniel Nestor from Canada and the duo are are in the same half as Bhupathi-Huber. Sania and Nestor will meet Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Australian Ashley Fisher in the first round.

Sania’s wrist injury had kept her out of action for the most part of 2008 that saw her career ranking drop from a high of 27.

The 74th-ranked Indian was blanked out of the US Open singles second round by Italian Flavia Pennetta Tuesday.Meanwhile, Leander Paes has teamed up with Cara Black of Zimbabwe and the duo are seeded second. They will play Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder and South African Wesley Moodie in the first round.

Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza notched up a rare double for India at the US Open by advancing to the second round of the season’s last Grand Slam with contrasting opening wins at the Flushing Meadows. While Sania opened with a roller-coaster 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Olga Govortsova of Belarus in women’s singles, qualifier Somdev got the better of Portugal’s Frederico Gil 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the men’s competition. The 162nd-ranked Somdev will take on German 23rd seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who defeated Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

Also read: Sania Mirza enters second round at US Open
Somdev storms into second round at US Open

The 74th-ranked Sania also has a tough match at hand against old nemesis Italian 10th seed Flavia Pennetta.

“I’m really happy we have two players in the second round of a Grand Slam. Things are looking up,” Sania said after her win.

Somdev, meanwhile, said the scoreline might show a straight-set win but he had to toil hard on the court.

“I really dug in there, didn’t get tight. I competed well. That’s what gets you through those tough ones – the way you compete,” he said.

Somdev played a solid service game in the contest which lasted more than two hours, breaking his rival seven times.

“I don’t want to jinx myself but I feel good about where I am. I’ve had a couple of quality wins. It gives me a lot of confidence and belief that I can come out and compete with anyone. My game is up there with the rest,” he said.

Sania, on the other hand, had to fight it out harder but was helped by her opponent’s weak serve and unforced errors.

The Indian ace broke her rival seven times and served marginally better to come through in the match that lasted close to two hours.

“The toughest thing is to get that first win under your belt. Under the circumstances I’m just happy I can come through that match and get off to a good start. To me it has already been successful,” she said.

On her nagging wrist problem, Sania said the injury that threatened her career at one point is finally healing.

“I’m happy with the way I’m playing. Physically I’ve never been fitter in terms of the way I’m moving on the court and playing in matches.

“I came up with the big shot that I needed to have. I have that big weapon when I need to use it,” the 24-year-old said.

The recently-engaged star said she was ready for a grand comeback after spending a lot of time on the sidelines due to injuries.

“I’m at that stage where I’m ready to go up again and go into the new year with confidence. The major wrist problem is finally gone. It’s about trying to stay as injury-free as possible,” she said.

“You don’t realise how much you miss playing tennis until you think you might not be able to play again. That made me really grow as a person. I appreciate it more being on a tennis court now,” she added.

Struggling to advance beyond second rounds of Grand Slam events all season, Sania Mirza opens her US Open campaign against world number 64 Olga Govortsova of Belarus as the last tennis Major of the year begins on Monday.

The one-to-one record between the world number 71 Sania and her Belarussian rival is tied 1-1.

Sania had beaten Govortsova in a qualifying event in 2007 and the Belarussian settled the score with a win in Doha next year.

If Sania clears the first hurdle, she may run into 10th seed Italian Flavia Pennetta in the second round.

Sania has not done well in the singles events of the Grand Slams this year, reaching the second rounds of the Australian Open and Wimbledon and falling at the very first hurdle in the French Open.

Although she has tasted some success in the doubles events, becoming the first ever female player of the country to win the mixed doubles title of the Australian Open along with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.

The wrist injury that kept Sania Mirza out of action almost half the season last year has flared up once again just a few days before the U S Open but the tennis ace is hoping that it will “hold up” during the year’s last Grand Slam.

Although Sania is sure to play in singles and doubles events of the US Open, she may skip the mixed doubles event but a final call will be taken only during the event.

The pain has recurred at a time when Sania had a chance to wipe off the disappointment of not doing well in the singles competitions of the Grand Slams this year.

After getting engaged to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza, Sania began her hard-court season preparations by winning the Lexington ITF Challenger event in July.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza fell at the final hurdle of the qualifying rounds of the women’s edition of the Rogers Cup on Sunday.

With the main draw accepting only 44 direct entries including all 16 of the World’s top players, there was a good chance for the qualifying field to seek a berth in this highly lucrative event with 12 places up for grabs through only two rounds of play.

Sania was made to work hard in her opening qualifying round match by Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier on Saturday, struggling to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win. But she wasn’t quite as lucky against another local girl, 22-year old Heidi El Tabakh, ranked 121 places below Mirza at 195 in the world.

Tabakh raced through the first set 6-1, as Mirza failed to get going at all. Though she failed to find the range on her serve in the second set either, dropping it twice, she did make the most of her opportunities on the El Tabakh serve, winning 75% of the points on her opponents second serve, and levelling the match at a set all 1-6, 6-3.

The final set saw both girls lift the level of their play, as they tried desperately to sneak an advantage. Mirza would regret in the end not taking any of her five break opportunities in the decider, as one bad game cost her the match. El Tabakh took just 7 points off the Mirza serve in the last set, but put a bunch of them together in the 6thgame, which saw her take the only break point she got, to wrap up the tie 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in a shade under 2 hours.

El Tabakh also eliminated the qualifying section’s top seed, world No.35 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday. Joining El Tabakh in the main draw are other seasoned campaigners Julie Coin, Maria Kirilenko, Maria Rybarikova among others.

Sania will play in the doubles event in the competition alongside her new partner Francesca Schiavone of Italy. They open their campaign against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.

Sania Mirza and her Italian partner Francesca Schiavone crashed out of the doubles event of the $2 million Cincinnati Open following a straight set defeat against top seeds Cara Black and Lizel Huber.

The unseeded Indo-Italian pair lost 4-6, 3-6 to the Zimbabwean-American combination in one hour and 14 minutes in the second round of the WTA event.
Meanwhile, playing her second competitive match in more than two years, Kim Clijsters reached the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Open with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Patty Schnyder on Wednesday.

Sania Mirza went up nine places in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles rankings released on Monday. Sania, whose attempt to win back-to-back International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles failed after she lost the Vancouver Open final Sunday, is now at the 74th position. Her doubles rankings is static at 49th.

Top seed Sania Mirza’s quest for a second successive ITF title ended in disappointment as she squandered a one set advantage to go down to local favourite Stephanie Dubois in the finals of the USD 75,000 Vancuover Open in the Canadian city.

Sania lost 6-1 4-6 4-6 against a gritty Stephanie, who said the Indian ace looked jaded after playing tough quarterfinal and semifinal matches incidentally against Canadians.

With a partisan crowd egging her on, Stephanie staged a remarkable comeback after being blown away by Sania in the opening set.

Both the players struggled to hold serve in the match but it was Sania who ended up paying more for the mistakes as the Stephanie raised her game at crucial junctures.

“I think that the other Canadians tired her a little bit, they had a really good match, (both) of them,” said Stephanie.

Sania thanked the few Indian fans who turned up to support her in the match.

“I guess it helps that we’re a billion of us,” she joked.

Sania won the ITF title in Lexington, USA last week. The injury-prone Indian is on a comeback trail after recuperating from a wrist surgery.

Sania walked away with USD 6,080 for her effort in the Vancuover Open.