The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sania overcomes Castano

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 06, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sania overcomes Castano

PATTAYA: Fifth seed Sania Mirza of India had problems in the early stages before overwhelming Columbia's Catalina Castano 7-6(1), 6-0 in the opening round of the Pattaya Open tennis tournament on Monday.

Italian third seed Mara Santangelo also struggled to overcome Slovakia's Jarmila Gajdosova, taking nearly two hours to win 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, but fourth-seeded Shuai Peng of China had no difficulty in dismissing Su-wei Hsieh of Taiwan 6-1, 6-2. Santangelo often had to come from behind against an opponent who used her big forehand to good effect.

Sania Mirza got off to a bad start, dropping her serve with a double-fault to fall behind 2-0. And although she recovered to lead 5-3, she failed to find any consistency and then netted a backhand when holding a setpoint at 5-4.

But she took total control in the tie-break, giving up just one point, and her more powerful game gave Castano little chance in the second set.

``I started a little slow, but you're getting into a new tournament, new balls, new atmosphere, and I'd never played her, so I was trying get a feel of how she plays,'' said Sania Mirza.

``I should have finished the first set at 5-4, but from the tie-break onwards I played like I wanted to play. I stopped giving any easy points. And every time I had an important point, 30-30 or 15-30, I served pretty well,'' she said.

Australia's Alicia Molik had to fight harder than the score suggests to earn a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.

Baghdatis wins title

Second-seeded wild-card Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus won the Zagreb Indoors tournament here on Sunday by beating top seed and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist and ranked 21st in the world, won his second title after Beijing last year with a 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 victory over Ljubicic.

``Ahead of the finals I did not know what to expect, since whenever I watch Ljubicic he seems rather difficult to beat,'' Baghdatis told journalists after the two-and-a-half-hour-long match.

Horna triumphs

Peruvian fifth seed Luis Horna swept aside Nicolas Massu 7-5, 6-3 for his first win in five outings against the Chilean to win the Vina del Mar Open.

Horna claimed the second ATP title of his career following his win in Acapulco last year. He did not lose a set all week.

Massu, who finished runner-up in his hometown event for the second year running, struck the first blow when he broke in the seventh game.

But, with Massu serving for the set at 5-4, Horna broke back to begin a run of six successive games.

``He has a lot of pressure whenever he plays here. It is his city, he wants to win this tournament so badly. I had no pressure at all and only wanted to play my best tennis,'' said Horna.

Massu, who is in the Chilean team to face holders Russia in the Davis Cup at the weekend, said: ``Today I was tense, slow, I was playing too short and you can't win like this. I still had an opportunity at 5-4 in the first but nothing happened.

Rain stops play

Top-seeded American James Blake had the upper hand over Belgian Xavier Malisse on Sunday when rain forced the postponement of their ATP final at Delray Beach.

Blake led third-seeded Malisse 7-5, 3-3 when organisers called play for the day. They were to return on Monday morning to complete the match.

The results: At Vina del Mar (Movistar Open): Final: Luis Horna bt Nicolas Massu 7-5, 6-3.

At Zagreb (Zagreb Indoors): Final: Marcos Baghdatis bt Ivan Ljubicic 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4.

At Pattaya (Pattaya Open): First round: Alicia Molik bt Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-2; Sania Mirza bt Catalina Castano 7-6(1), 6-0; Anastassia Rodionova bt Montinee Tangphong 7-5, 7-6(4); Mara Santangelo bt Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Shuai Peng bt Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-2. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport