Anup Bhuvanan Welcomes You

In the WTA Tour rankings Sania Mirza moved up three spots to no.58 in the world courtesy of her semi-final run at the HP Japan Women's Open in Osaka last week. Sania also moved up a few spots to no. 36 in the doubles ranking.

Sania Mirza's run at the WTA Japan Open ended with a crushing 2-6, 1-6 mauling in the semi-final against world number 26 and fourth seed Francesca Schiavone in Osaka, on Saturday.

Sania's defeat meant that the Indian has now lost all three encounters against her Italian friend.

It was for the third time in the season that Sania had made it to the singles semi-final of an WTA event.

The Indian earned 130 ranking points and US $10,200 as prize money for her brilliant effort through the week in the US $220,000 hard court event.

Sania could not play the way she did against Peer and Bartoli, who had retired mid-way due to a shoulder injury, and lost her semi-final within an hour.

Sania saved a breakpoint in the first set but the Italian still broke her twice to race away with the lead.

The second set was again a lop-sided affair with Schiavone breaking Sania twice as she quickly wrapped up the one-sided match.

Sania Mirza today advanced to the Japan Open semifinals after her second-seeded French opponent Marion Bartoli retired midway through the quarterfinal due to a shoulder injury with the Indian leading 6-4 2-0 here.

With Bartoli hampered by a right shoulder injury, Sania controlled the proceedings in the hour-long match, although the Indian said she did not play all that well.

"You always like to win match point, so it was unfortunate but I felt I was playing well and was in control.

At the end of the day, a win is a win. The big thing for me is that I was outplaying a top 15 player, who was in good form," Sania said.

Sania will next play fourth seed Francesca Schiavone, who didn't even need to take the court as her seventh seeded rival Melinda Czink withdrew due to a right foot injury.

Sania Mirza sailed into the Japan Open quarter finals after notching up a straight-set win over Ukraine’s Viktoriya Kutuzova here on Wednesday.

Sania defeated Kutuzova 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 23 minutes to set up a tough quarter final against second-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli.

Both Sania and Viktoriya served badly in the opening set, committing five double faults each.

But Sania managed to convert a crucial break point to go 1-0 up.

The Indian was more in control in the second set and she cut back on her service errors, saving three of the four break points she faced.

Viktoriya, however, continued to serve poorly and was broken thrice by the Indian, who was also helped by the three double faults the Ukrainian committed.

The Indian goes into the match against world No. 12 Bartoli with a 1-0 head-to-head record as the Hyderabadi had beaten her in the 2005 US Open.

Sania Mirza's camaraderie with frequent doubles partner Shahar Peer did not come in her way to overcoming the fifth seeded Israeli in three sets to reach the second round of the Japan Open tennis tournament here today.

With two players fully aware of each other's game, it was an intense one hour 52 minute tug-of-war, at the end of which Sania finished on the right side with a hard-earned 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

The Indian will now face Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine, who had won the first set 6-2 before her opponent Maria Kirilenko of Russia retired.

Sania broke her opponents twice but was broken herself thrice as the Indian lost the first set.

In the second set, however, Sania saved all three break points to draw parity and maintained her superiority in the decider to emerge winner.

In the WTA list, Sania Mirza rose by four rungs to 61 in singles but her doubles ranking was intact at 38.

Sania Mirza's trip to China runs the risk of being an incredibly short one as she was knocked out of the first round of qualifying at the hands of Chinese wildcard recipient Chun-Mei Ji 3-6, 6-2, 1-6.




Ji, ranked more than 500 places below Mirza in the WTA Tour rankings at 580 dominated the match, creating 13 break opportunities on the Mirza serve, and taking 6 of these to wrap up a rather comfortable win in the end.



The final set was especially one sided as Ji dropped just 5 points on her own serve and allowed Mirza only 7 on her own to romp to an impressive win.

Mirza will compete in her first round match in the main draw of the women's doubles tomorrow. She is partnering with Romanian youngster Sorana Cirstea, and will take on the pair of Agnes Szavay and Roberta Vinci.

Shrugging off her disappointing US Open campaign, Sania Mirza today qualified for the prestigious USD two million Pan Pacific Open after recording a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Victoriya Kutuzova of Russia here today.The seventh seed Indian was down by a set and trailing 1-3 in the second set at one stage but got her elements together to beat her rival in two hours and 20 minutes.

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.