Sania Mirza moves into Sunfeast quarter finals

Sania Mirza beat German adversary Sandra Kloesel 7-5, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final clash with Aravane Rezai from France in the WTA Sunfeast Open played at Kolkata on Thursday.

The first set saw both the players dish out a sloppy display on their serves. Mirza broke Kloesel in the first, third, ninth and 12th game while the German broke her in the second, eighth and tenth.

It was only in the fourth and sixth game that Mirza showed glimpses of what she was capable of - unleashing an array of power forehands backed by two hot serves that had the German sizzled.

The second set saw Mirza continue with her dominance on the loopy serve of Kloesel.

However, the German capitalised on a couple of backhand errors to take the very next game and went ahead for the first time in the match holding her serve. She looked like taking the set away from Mirza when she took the fourth and went a double break up.

“Kloesel had big returns. But in the second set I got my act together,” Mirza said after the match.

“It’s not how I won. It’s that I won. Winning is important and at the end of the day I won. I did have a few problems on which I need to work. But I am playing good solid tennis and I have no regrets.

Praising the world 123-ranked German, Mirza said: “She was also playing a good game. I rallied to get past her.”

Talking about her next opponent Rezai, she said: “Oh that will be a good match. She is shaping up real well. She has a big backhand and I have a big forehand. So let’s see who gets the better on that day.”

Mirza was seen repeatedly throwing up the ball and then readjusting her foot every time she went for the serve. She was evidently not happy. “I was having a problem with my tossing and so my serves went limp. But I had it sorted out in the second set.”

In another match, Italy’s Alberta Brianti overcame a gritty Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals.

Widjaja, who reached a career-high of 55 in singles and 15 in doubles, didn’t look confident. Her left-knee, with a little red strap in place held good, but not much else. She committed too many unforced errors and failed to grab the initiative when Brianti, trying to make a routine return, fell heavily and seemed to twist her right ankle one hour and 13 minutes into the match.

Uzbekistan’s Iroda Tulyaganova continued her upward swing even as seventh seed Nicole Pratt of Australia was shown the door by Russian Olga Poutchokova.

The Russian got the better of the seventh seed Pratt 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Poutchokova began in style and took the first set in 20 minutes, before the veteran Aussie came back strongly to take the second set. But the Russian looked determined and regular breaks and long rallies meant that the Aussie was on her way out.

In other matches, Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia, who got rid of eighth-seeded compatriot Anastassia Rodionova in Round I, blew away Hana Sromova of Czech Republic 6-2, 6-0 to set up a quarter final date with Iroda Tulyaganova.

The Uzbek world No. 346, who reached the top 16 spot in WTA rankings back in June 17, 2002 before a right elbow injury sidelined her, justified her talent beating Casey Dellacqua (who accounted for second seed Karolina Sprem in the first round) in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

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