Sania Mirza Upsets Shahar Peer At Acura Classic

Sania Mirza pulled off an impressive 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over 12th seed and doubles partner Shahar Peer of Israel to advance to the second round of the USD 13,40,000 WTA Acura Classic here.

Sania, who finished runner-up at last week's Bank of Western Classic in Stanford, will now take on Greek Eleni Daniilidou at the event which would be eliminated from next year's WTA calendar.

In a two-hour-three-minute contest where momentun kept swinging back and forth, both Sania and Peer pounded heavy ground strokes from the baseline to make it an exciting match for the sizeable crowd at the Stadium Court.

Sania used her strong forehand to set up winning points and kept Peer under pressure with her service returns. There were a combined 15 service breaks in the match.

After splitting the first two sets, Sania opened the final set by holding serve and breaking Peer to take a 4-1 lead.

Stanford Classic: Chakvetadze Beats Sania

Top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze cruised past India's Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-2 here on Sunday to capture her second WTA Tour title in as many weeks.

Chakvetadze had earned a three-set victory against Mirza in the semi-finals en route to the title at Cincinnati last week, and Mirza was unable to improve on that result in this $600,000 hardcourt tournament.

Chakvetadze, ranked eighth in the world, claimed her sixth career title and fourth title of the season, after triumphs at Cincinnati, Hobart and 's-Hertogenbosch.

Prior to Cincinnati, she won one of her two singles matches to help Russia top the United States in the semi-finals of the Fed Cup in Vermont.

"I have to play only on hard courts in the United States," she said. "I still had some trouble in the first set with my serve. After this kind of thing I concentrated more on every point."

Mirza, playing in her first Tier II final, had upset three seeded opponents en route to the final, ousting No. 4 Patty Schnyder, No. 6 Tatiana Golovin and No. 8 Sybille Bammer.

Her wins over Golovin and Schnyder were her first over top-20 opponents in a 2007 season that has been disrupted by a knee injury that required surgery in March and sidelined her for more than two months.

"After I lost the first set she dominated," Mirza said. "She comes up with her best in the finals. I wasn't feeling it as well as I have. I was getting tentative and hoping she'd make mistakes."

"I didn't hit the ball as cleanly as I did the whole week." But Chakvetadze said she thought Mirza was stronger than she was a week earlier.

"She had a great week," Chakvetadze said. "Compared to our match in Cincinnati, even when we went three sets, here was a better match. I told myself I'm not feeling that great to run for three sets so I had to finish it fast."

Sania Mirza Stuns Bammer To Reach Stanford Final

Sania Mirza upset eighth seed Sybille Bammer 6-2 5-7 6-3 to reach the final of the Stanford Classic on Saturday.

The unseeded 20-year-old, whose only Tour title came in Hyderabad in 2005, outfought the Austrian under the hot sun in two hours and 14 minutes.

While the left-handed Bammer did a good job hooking her forehand into Sania's backhand and punishing her second serve, the Sania was the more ambitious and complete player on the day.

Sania Mirza won the match when she ripped a forehand crosscourt winner on her fourth match point.

Sania Mirza will face the winner of the semi-final between top seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and third seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Sania Mirza Ousts Schnyder To Reach Stanford Semi-Finals

Unseeded Sania Mirza punched her semi-final ticket at this US Open tuneup Friday with a straight-set victory over fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder.

Mirza downed her Swiss opponent 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 for her second straight upset this week. She bounced sixth-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France in the second round. Mirza’s victory over world number 19 Golovin was her first over a top-20 player since she was sidelined by a knee injury in March. Now she is aiming to add to her one WTA Tour title, which she won at Hyderabad in 2005. Top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze booked her semi-final place, rallying the defeat seventh-seeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Chakvetadze has now won seven consecutive hardcourt matches and is in position to capture her second singles title in as many weeks. “The first set I was really up and down,” said Chakvetadze, who won in Cincinnati last week. “I felt like if I could hold my serve I could turn it around. I started playing more aggressively. “Katarina was a little more aggressive than me in the first set. She made me run all over the court. In the second set I started serving well and returning better. “I still think my game is up and down,” she added.

Sania-Peer In Last 8

Third seeds Sania Mirza and Shahar Peer survived a scare from Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova to advance to the doubles quarter-finals of the $ 600,000 Bank of West Classic tournament here yesterday.

The Indo-Israeli pair came through 6-1, 0-6, 11-9 in over an hour against the unseeded Belarussian-Russian duo at the WTA Tour hard court event.
Sania and Peer will now be up against the Uzbek-German team of Akgul Amanmuradova and Angalika Bachmann.

Sania, who is aiming for a second successive doubles title after her triumph in Cincinnati with Bethanie Mattek last week, and Peer failed to convert two breakpoints in the third set which saw them being broken thrice. But, Sania and Peer got their act together in the super-tiebreaker to advance to the quarter-finals.

Sania Shocks Golovin To Enter Quarter-Final Of Stanford Classic

Sania Mirza into the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic, scoring an upset 6-4, 6-1 victory over French sixth seed Tatiana Golovin Thursday.

The victory set up a quarter-final showdown with fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who registered a 7-5 6-2 win against Russian qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova.

Mirza tore apart Golovin, whom she had lost to in their two previous meetings, completely dictating play with her huge forehand.

The 20-year-old Indian served efficiently, ate up the Frenchwoman's second serves and won the match when she blitzed a forehand winner crosscourt.

"She said to me, 'can you hit it any harder?'" the world number 35 added with a laugh.

"She's one of my closest friends on tour and it's never easy to play a friend.

"I wanted to dictate as I have had trouble with her in the past because she retrieves so well. But I made sure I was aggressive as soon as I got on court."

Sania's doubles partner Israeli Shahar however failed to progress. The fifth seed was beaten by Belarusian qualifier Olga Govortsova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Govortsova has risen quickly up the rankings, qualifying for Wimbledon and reaching the quarter-finals of Cincinnati last week with her aggressive play.

After starting the year ranked 334th in the world, the 18-year-old began the tournament at number 100 but is now assured of a place in the top 70 after reaching the last eight.

The tall baseliner needed two and half hours to overcome Peer, finally wearing down her Israeli opponent with booming shots into the corners.

"I know her and know what she does good and bad," Govortsova told reporters.

"In the last two sets, I hit more winners. I have more experience and I'm not making as many mistakes as I used to."

Govortsova said that Peer had beaten her thrice as a junior but the Israeli was less consistent this time.

"I'm not playing up to my ability," Peer said. "I'm not playing my game. When I'm running to balls I'm not getting there on time and I'm hitting too short."

Sania-Peer In Quarter-Finals At Stanford

Third seeds Sania Mirza and Shahar Peer survived a scare from Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova before advancing to the doubles quarter-finals of the US $600,000 Bank of West Classic tournament in Stanford.

The Indo-Israeli pair beat the unseeded Belarussian-Russian duo 6-1, 0-6, 11-9 in over an hour at the WTA Tour hard court tournament on Wednesday.

Sania and Peer will meet the Uzbek-German team of Akgul Amanmuradova and Angalika Bachmann.

Sania, who is aiming for a second successive doubles title after her triumph in Cincinatti with Bethanie Mattek last week, and Peer failed to convert two breakpoints in the third set which saw them being broken thrice.

But they got their act together in the super tie-breaker to advance to the quarters.

Sania Cruises Into Round 2 At Stanford

Sania Mirza rallied to defeat Japan's Akiko Morigami 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) here on Tuesday and reached the second round of a $600,000 WTA hardcourt tournament.

Mirza booked a date at the US Open tune-up event against French sixth seed Tatiana Golovin, who defeated Ukraine qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-2, 6-2.

Austrian eighth seed Sybille Bammer advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Japan's Ai Sugiyama. Bammer booked a second-round date with American Meilen Tu.

Russian qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova rallied to eliminate Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, setting up a second-round match with Swiss fourth seed Patty Schnyder.

Israeli fifth seed Shahar Peer lost five of the first six games but rallied to defeat France's Camile Pin 7-6 (7/5), 6-2. Peer plays Belarus qualifier Olga Govortsova next.