BIRMINGHAM • Just when it seemed that Sania Mirza was back to the form which made her such a hit at last year’s Wimbledon, she blew a great chance to reach her first quarter-final since October here yesterday.
The 19-year-old from Hyderabad led by a set and 3-1, and by 5-3 in the final set before somehow contriving to lose 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to Meilen Tu, a qualifier from the United States, in the third round of the DFS Classic.
The Indian starlet was too upset to talk to the press after her defeat, although she did release a statement in which she claimed cramps had contributed to her defeat.
“I’m really disappointed to lose today,” she said. “I thought I had the match in my hands as I started off so well but I wasn’t feeling well in the second set. I had cramps and it went wrong from there.
“All credit to Meilen, she really hung in there and deserved to win today.”
It was a significant disappointment for the first Indian woman to break the world’s top 50, because Mirza’s fitness problems had seemed behind her, and her section of the draw, without the injured third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, had been opening up invitingly.
Mirza also appeared to have created a pattern by which she could dominate an opponent who rallied determinedly from the baseline but whose ranking has slipped outside the top 100 after a sequence of injury problems.
When Mirza backed up her flat attacks with a tight focus, she got on top, and she also appeared to have Tu rattled early in the second set, when the American glared understandably at the noisy hospitality tents.
With spectators sitting with their backs to the court and cheering loudly for England in the World Cup soccer which was being broadcast not far away, the number one court increasingly became a pit of distractions.
But it was Mirza, the first Indian woman to win a WTA Tour event, whose concentration appeared to waver most when it mattered.
After Tu had served two double faults to drop serve, and then double faulted again to go love-30 in the fifth game of the second set, it seemed that one more break of serve then would finish the match as a contest.
But Mirza could not come up with the right shot on the points which mattered, and as the match went on, her serve began to lose its pep.
Twice she served for the match in the final set, and twice her deliveries lacked conviction. Meanwhile the off-court shouts became more frequent.
By the time it came to the tie-break the momentum was with the determined Tu, who next faces France’s Marion Bartoli, who overcame Ayumi Morita, a surprising 16-year-old from Japan, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Bartoli said: “I was 0-2 down in both the first two sets, but unfortunately, having pulled it back a second time I lost the second set.
“I finally found some weaknesses in her game. Maybe I have a little bit more experience. When the ball came fast (on grass) she didn’t have time to react, so I put in as many first serves as possible, especially to the forehand and I got some free points.
Bartoli also came a lot more to the net, where, as an experienced doubles player, she was more than comfortable. But despite her moments of naivety Morita looks to have a good future.
Only 16, she gained entry through a feed-up system from two special challenger events, one of them Fukuoka, and in the first WTA Tour event of her career won two matches, one against Sofia Arvidsson, the ninth seeded Hungarian.
Morita also showed herself encouragingly adaptable on the unfamiliar grass surface, although with a ranking down at 264 it may be a little while before another chance on the main tour comes along.
Source: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Sports_News&subsection=Tennis&month=June2006&file=Sports_News2006061681550.xml
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