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Tuesday, 29 September 2009 |
 Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza crashed out of the Pan Pacific Open with a first-round defeat in a marathon three setter against Chinese Jie Zheng here on Monday.
Sania, who had to qualify for the USD two million hard-court event, went down 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 after a contest lasting more than two hours.
Sania, who has been plagued by a nagging wrist injury for more than a year now, fought hard in a see-saw opening set.
She broke her rival thrice to go 1-0 up.
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Tuesday, 15 September 2009 |
 A 10th Grand Slam title at the US Open didn't make any difference to Leander Paes' ATP rankings as he remained eighth in the doubles list but Sania Mirza moved up in the WTA charts despite a disastrous outing at the Flushing Meadows.
Paes was steady at the eighth spot with 6710 points while his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy ended up losing a place to be seventh in the latest list.
Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi, who lost to him in the US Open men's doubles final, gained a spot to be sixth this week.
Bhupathi's Bahamian partner Mark Knowles was unchanged at the fifth position.
In the ATP singles rankings, rising star Somdev Devvarman entered the top-150, rising 29 places for the 133rd spot this week. |
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Saturday, 05 September 2009 |
 Sania Mirza crashed out of the women's doubles event after losing a thriller but Mahesh Bhupathi ensured the smooth sailing of Indians in mixed doubles advancing to the second round of the US Open at the Flushing Meadows here.
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 they still failed to win the crucial points.
With most of the games being stretched to deuces, breaks points changed sides and Dulko and Peer converted more of them than their Indo-American opponents. Dulko and Peer converted two of the nine break points, while Sania and Schiavone won one of the seven that came their way. |
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Friday, 04 September 2009 |
 Sania Mirza has kept her hopes alive in the doubles and mixed doubles at the US open by winning both matches and advancing to the second round.
Sania bounced back from her 6-0, 6-0 drubbing at the hands of 10th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy to win both her women's doubles and mixed doubles matches Thursday.
She partnered with Italy's Fransesca Schiavone to win a see-saw first round match defeating Ekaterina Dzehalevich of Belarus and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.
The Indo-Italian pair will meet Gisela Dulko and Shahar Peer in the second round of the US Open.
After winning the women's doubles first round match, Sania was back on the court just a couple of hours later for her mixed doubles match.
She and her veteran partner Daniel Nestor of Canada coasted through their first round match 6-3, 6-1 against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Ashley Fisher of Australia at the Flushing Meadows.
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 |
 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. |
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Tuesday, 01 September 2009 |
 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. |
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Saturday, 29 August 2009 |
 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 Grand Slam 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. |
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Wednesday, 26 August 2009 |
Sania Mirza moved up three places to be No. 71 in the WTA singles rankings issued on Monday. She, however, slipped to 46 in doubles, a loss of two slots.
Mahesh Bhupathi, meanwhile, replaced Leander Paes at No. 7, a gain of one position, in the ATP doubles rankings.
Bhupathi’s semi-final appearance at the Cincinnati Masters helped him move above Paes. |
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Tuesday, 11 August 2009 |
 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.
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Monday, 10 August 2009 |
 The top-seeded Sania Mirza is just a step away from her second consecutive ITF singles title after pipping local favourite Sharon Fichman to reach the final of the Odlum Brown van Open here on Saturday.
Sania was not at her best in the semifinal and the Canadian stretched her to three sets. The Indian finally won 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2.
In the final, Sania takes on the second-seeded Canadian Stephanie Dubois. Stephanie edged out American qualifier Mashona Washington 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. |
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Sania in News 
