Does it really matter ?

Sania flatters to deceive again...

Sania Mirza, once again fell to a lesser opponent, after beating a much fancied one in the earlier round. Just as I expressed some hope of her reviving her season, just as she was about to silence her critics about her talent or the lack of it, she fell to Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the quarter finals of the Korea Open.

The 19-year-old Indian, who beat top seed Martina Hingis in the second round, lost to doubles specialist Pascual 7-6 4-6 7-6. After taking the first set to the wire, Sania bounced back to take the second set raising hopes of another fight back. But Pascual, the hard-hitting doubles specialist, managed to peg Sania back, taking the third set 7-6. Sania, who recently moved up to 59 in the world, will surely gain a few places, courtesy her win over Hingis.

To her credit, Sania went down guns blazing. And also she deserves to be lauded for coming back to beat Hingis the way she did, the second set score read 6-0, and this after going down rather tamely in Kolkata the week before. And having traded breaks in the first set too. This win will surely do a world of good to her confidence.

All she needs to focus on now is her fitness, which is the source of all her problems this season. She needs to work on her fitness levels and she will be fine.

posted by Sreedhar @ Friday, September 29, 2006