Sania Mirza has wound up the season in style, winning big
titles back to back, with the new mom-in-action, Cara Black of Zimbabwe.
It made for nice pictures around the world, as Cara posed
with her son Lachlan and partner Sania, on receiving the trophy. That should
inspire the woman players and give them the confidence that if they stay
healthy, maintain good physical fitness, parenthood will not be a hindrance to
being successful on the professional tour.
The 26-year-old Sania, who had hinted about having
entertained thoughts of quitting the sport at some stage, has realised that
there is still a lot left to achieve for her, even though she has already done
phenomenally well to win two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles from three finals
with Mahesh Bhupathi, apart from reaching a career-best 27 in singles ranking. She
has won 19 doubles titles on the tour.
Ranked No.11 in the world in doubles, Sania has expressed the
desire to win Grand Slam doubles titles, and becoming No.1 in the world. Both
are well within her reach, if she achieves her main goal of staying healthy and
fit. Well, the draw in Beijing was as good as a Grand Slam field, what with the
multiple Olympic and Grand Slam champions, the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena,
figuring in it, though unseeded.
Five doubles titles, a 43-16 win-loss record, apart from
nearly half a million dollars in prize money made for a satisfactory season, in
which she broke the $3 million mark in career prize money. More than half the
prize money for the season came in the last three events, and the least of it
for making the semifinals at the US Open with Jie Zheng of China. Persistence pays.
Cara Black, the former world No.1 doubles player, with 10
Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles titles to her collection, brings rich
experience and expertise to the partnership. She hails from a family of world
class tennis players. Her twin brothers Byron and Wayne, were No.1 team in the
world. Byron had a career best singles rank of 22 and was No.1 in doubles.
Wayne reached up to No.69 in singles and
was No.4 in doubles.
There is a lot to learn, and Sania is only too happy to
revive her education after having been initiated into the successful world of
doubles by Liezel Huber of the US, with whom she had won her first three
doubles titles.
Leander Paes and
Rohan Bopanna yet to play their first matches in Shanghai
The men are at work. Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna seeded
third and sixth with Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin respectively
should be playing their second rounds, after a bye in the first, on Thursday in
the $6,211,445 Shanghai Masters in China.
Divij and Purav Raja
sweat it out to make quarterfinals in Tashkent
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja who are enjoying a break-through
season had to fight their way through to the quarterfinals in the $125,000
Tashkent Challenger in Uzbekistan, as they beat Andrea Arnaboldi and Thomas
Fabbiano of Italy 5-7, 6-3, 10-3.
They were scheduled to play wild card entrants Farrukh
Dustov of Uzbekistan and Malex Jaziri of Tunisia in the quarterfinals.
Karunuday Singh
seeded No.1 in Kazakhstan Futures
The top-seeded Karunuday Singh sailed into the
pre-quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over wild card Kuatbek Abiyev of
Kazakhstan in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Shymkent,
Kazakhstan. He will play Anton Galkin of Russia in the second round.
Vijayant Malik has a
tough time
The fifth-seeded Vijayant Malik lost 6-3, 3-6,2 -6 to Kevin
King of the US in the first round of the $15,000 ITf men’s Futures tennis
tournament in Houston, Texas, US.
In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Vijayant and Sanam Singh
beat wild cards Sam Edwards and Grant Solomon of the US 6-2, 6-2.
The second-seeded Sanam Singh and qualifier Srikar Alla were
yet to play their singles first round matches. Alla who did not drop a set in
three rounds of the qualifying event, was set to play the top-seeded Edward
Corrie of Britain, while Sanam was to be challenged by qualifier Max Wennakoski
of Finland.
Sriram Balaji in Germany
Sriram Balaji was seeded fifth and drawn to play Oscar Otte
of Germany in the first round of the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament
in Leimen, Germany.
In doubles, he had a bye in partnership with Torsten
Wietoska of Germany. The second-seeded Indo-German pair will be challenged by
Maximilian Marterer and Daniel Masur of Germany in the quarterfinals.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran
tested in Athens by a player ranked 1236
The eighth-seeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran was teased by the
1236th ranked Loic Perret of Switzerland as he fought his way
through to a 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(1) victory in the first round of the $10,000 ITF
men’s Futures tennis tournament in Marathon, Athens, Greece.
Vijay Sundar
Prashanth tested by 2101st ranked qualifier in Britain
The eighth-seeded Vijay Sundar Prashanth was pushed to his
wit’s end by the 2101st ranked qualifier David Porter of Britain,
before he prevailed 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) in the first round of the $10,000 ITF
men’s Futures tennis tournament in Sunderland, Britain.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Prashanth, figuring in the top
quarter, was scheduled to play another qualifier Chris Anguelov of Bulgaria.
In doubles, Prashanth with David Pel of the Netherlands had
a bye into the quarterfinals and the duo was scheduled to face the top-seeded
George Coupland of Britain and Marcus Daniell of New Zealand.
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