London, June 27: Sania Mirza is undaunted by the tough draw handed out to her at the Wimbledon grand slam and hopes to do one-set better than last time when she takes on seventh seed Elena Dementieva in the singles opening round.
"Obviously, this is a very tough first round and the problem with playing a top-10 player is that unless you play at your best, they have the capacity to humiliate you on court," Sania told reporters.
The Russian beat the 19-year old Indian 5-7 6-4 6-4 the last and only time they met at Indian Wells earlier this year.
The Hyderabadi lass is keen to set that 0-1 head-to-head record straight against Dementieva.
"She is one of the hardest strikers of the ball that I have ever played against. I played a very tight three-setter againt her last time and I hope to give a good account myself this time," Sania said.
The teenager caused ripples on her maiden appearance at Wimbledon last year when she gave Svetlana Kuznetsova a run for her money before going down in the second round.
"I hope to make it as memorable as my last year," she said.
The preparations have not gone exactly according to plans, though. Although she reached the third round at the DFS Classic - her best performance of the season - a fortnight back, a lack of communication saw her land in Don Bosch, Holland, last week instead of slugging it out against the cream of women's tennis at Eastbourne in London.
Sania travelled to the Netherlands with the intention of gaining some match practice playing alongside local lass Michaela Krajicek with whom she will be pairing in doubles at Wimbledon.
A less weighty draw there also meant that she had a better chance of playing more singles matches.
Unfortunately for her, Krajicek was not aware of her plans and had committed to another player. And Sania's singles programme also took a knock as she went out in the first round.
The Indian ace, however, said she was confident of her form.
"The tune-up matches have not gone as well as I would have liked but I am feeling the ball good and with a little bit of luck, I look forward to some exciting matches in singles and doubles," Sania said.
She has been sparring with a lot of different players including Krajicek, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Elena Kostanic.
Sania said her game has come up a long way this year and Asif Ismail as coach-cum-hitting partner also has had a positive impact.
"I definitely feel I have improved over the last six months and matured, too.
"But in professional tennis, one has to go on working hard, keep on doing the right things and wait for the right breaks, which will eventually come if you are good enough.
"My coach Asif Ismail is someone I enjoy working with and he is adding new dimensions to the way I play."
Source: http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=305260&ssid=92&sid=SPO
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