Sania-watch

Got my hopes up again as Sania Mirza is playing well in the initial rounds of the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells.
Ms Mirza has defeated a very strong Shahar Peer in Round 3 and is through to meet Daniela Hantuchova in Round 4. Will she, won't she? Most probably not. But really well done in any case.

Excerpt from the official Pacific Life website:
"Defending champion Daniela Hantuchova eased to the win on her 'home' court, defeating Jie Zheng 6-4, 6-2 to start off the night session. The Slovak, who won her first Tour title here in 2002, will next play India's Sania Mirza , an upset winner over No. 9 seed Shahar Peer, 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-3.Hantuchova assessed her fourth round opponent: “She's a big hitter. You never know what to expect. It's going to be a tough match, but again, I hope I'll be playing on my court, and there anything can happen. But I know I'm going to enjoy it and I'll see. I will just do my best and see what happens."

Other big names that have got through so far: Davydenko, Canas, Fedex, Hewitt, Youzhny, Davydenko, Stepanek, Sharapova, Kuznetsova, Davenport, Bartoli...


NEWS JUST IN: Hantuchova sailed past Sania 6-1, 7-6. She plays Sharapova in the quarters next.

Sania-watch: End of US Open 2007

Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek lost to Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the doubles quarterfinals, Tuesday.

Thus ends Sania's US Open 2007.

Sania-: Through to the quarters

Ms Mirza and Bethanie Mattek pulled off a wonderful victory, upsetting favourites and second seeded Raymond-Stosur combo at the Ladies' Doubles last night. Very good.

Sania-watch

She's out. Round 3 and exit stage left.
As predicted after the last match, Sania failed to make it past Chakvetadze who was playing on a much higher level really. Well, she is World No. 6.
Chin up, girl. And let's see you work some magic here on.

Round 3 saw some HUGE shockers.
Sharapova knocked out by a lovely little firecracker whose name I heard for the first time just that day. It's a tongue twister and I have only just managed to say it at one go: Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Here's the match summary, with bits of melodrama thrown in.
(It's the NYT, come on!)
Also, Nadia Petrova ousted by another teeny-bopper, Agnes Svazay.
Hoo, boy.

Watched Venus Williams last night, against no less than 5th seed Ana Ivanovic [who I really like because she looks like someone in my family and has the sweetest smile ever. Oh, and she also plays very well, yes.] It was TOTAL ANNIHILATION. Poor Ana couldn't find her smile at all after yesterday's steamroll.
Venus was on fire. She sizzled. She scorched the court during last night's match. I was picturing little nasty robots circulating in the background droning, "Exterminate. Exterminate."
Other words used to describe Venus' play by various papers: "Venus crushes...; Venus belts out warning; Venus rolls past..., Ruthless Venus..."

It's true. She was in fine form. Went through Ana like a hot knife through petrified butter. I'm putting my money on her [metaphorically speaking, okay?] to take the Title. Here's the match report.

A few big names that have stayed low and will probably jump out at us suddenly is Venus' li'l sister, Serena, who has quietly also made it to Round 4, defeating another player I like, Marion Bartoli. We're possibly looking at a Williams v. Williams Ladies' S/F, though there are big names like Jankovic and Henin to get past.

Something cute Venus had to say in this regard: ---Williams said she hoped to play against her sister. In an on-court interview after the match she said, “If we get to the semifinals there will be a Williams in the final and an American in the final.”----

Oh, but it's going to be good viewing: Venus v. Jankovic, Serena v. Henin. I'm certain Venus will get by, don't know about the other Q/F because I haven't seen either of them play this time.

The men's draw is probably not as exciting, since Fedex is around, doing his ice cool thing. :)
Rafa is creeping up [straight sets victory last match] slowly, calmly tugging at his pants as he makes his way through to the Round of 16.Where's all the fanfare, I say?

Sania-watch: Round 3!

Through to Round 3!

I watched the 2nd round match from the middle of the second set last night, and it has to be said, I am very uncertain about our girl's chances against her nemesis-of-the-year, Anna Chakvetadze. Anna's beaten Sania thrice already this year, even when she's been playing really well. The semi-finals at Hobart, the semi-finals at Cincinatti and the finals at Stanford. Ouch .

Sania lost her way a bit at 4-1 up in the second set. Up went the unforced errors. One match point after the other ate dust. *Cringe*Cringe*
I hope Sania is tighter in her next match. She has to be. We love you, girl, but keep it within the lines, please.

Watching intently.....

Sania-watch

Our girl is through to the 2nd round.
US Open-wise.

Sania-watch

Ms Mirza is up to Number 27 in the WTA single's rankings.
Her doubles rankings are also at an all-time high of 20!

Today is Sania's first match at the US Open. 11am at the Grandstand.

Sania-watch

Uh-oh. Not just before the US Open. No yo-yoing now!

Sania -watch

Sania through to Round 2 at New Haven. Here.
Also, seedings released for the US Open where Sania is seeded 26th and plays Estonian Kaia Kanepi in Round 1.
Federer is seeded 1 of course.
The Men's Singles Round 1 draw looks pretty tame with the only interesting match being Novak Djokovic v. Mario Ancic. Same on the Women's Singles front: one possible interesting match between Tamarine Tanasugarn and Sybille Bammer. Okay, maybe it won't be that interesting.

Sania-watch

Sania climbs up one spot to 28th in the singles' WTA rankings.

In other news, Federer isn't doing too badly either.

Sania watch continues [click]

WTA singles ranking improves to personal best and career high of 29 [915 points].
Sania is also up to 25th [with 1321 points] in the doubles rankings.

Sania-watch continues

Well done again, Miss Mirza. Here!

Well done, Sania.

Sania Mirza is on a roll. After an iffy performance at Wimbledon [just back from injury etc], she's moving up and how. She's the fittest she's ever been and if she would only work on that serve of hers plus reign in on the unforceds a bit, she's going to get nicely dangerous.
Well done at Stanford and San Diego, Sania. Seed-toppling is very nice [for us].
Have a personal soft spot for Mirza because her match at the Bangalore Open [where she won the doubles finals, 2006] is the only tennis match I've watched in person. Also, I think she's a smarty-pants. I'm going to keep track of this kid.