Sania 31st in WTA rankings

Sania Mirza’s commendable run at last week’s Pacific Life Open that ended in the fourth round has helped the Indian ace gain a spot to be 31st in the latest WTA rankings issued on Monday. Sania, who battled a wrist injury through her fourthround loss to Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the USD 2.1 million event, now has 917 ranking points. The Hyderabadi star has also gained three places in her doubles rankings, moving up to 22nd with 1830 points after the semifinal appearance in the Pacific Life Open. Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek had lost to the Chinese pair of Zi Yan and Jie Zheng in the lastfour stage.

Sania bows out of pacific life open

Troubled by a painful wrist, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza fell 6-1 7-6 (4) to defending champion Daniela Hantuchova in the pre-quarterfinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells on Tuesday. The 21-year-old Hyderabadi’s failure to cash in on a handful of game points set the players apart in the first set. Sania was a trifle defensive on the big points, which cost her dear. The striking Indian was up 40-0 on two of her service games (second and fourth) and 15-40 on the Slovakian’s serve in two other games of the set, but conceded the advantage in each of those games. In the second set, Sania started going for more and with greater consistency, but hurt her wrist at 3-2 when she played two forehands late. There on it was a struggle for the Indian with her forehand and serve against an opponent, who gives little away. Sania missed a couple of game points and the chance totake a 5-3 lead. The elegant Slovakian then broke in the 11th game, when her opponent double faulted, but dropped serve in the next game as the set drifted into tie-break. Hantuchova blasted out a 4-0 lead, but Sania reduced the margin to 4-5. That was as much as the Indian could manage against the title holder. There’s considerable swelling on Sania’s right wrist. The India number one will see how she feels on the morrow before deciding if she will take the court for her doubles quarterfinals. Sania and American Bethanie Mattek are scheduled to take on the second-seeded pair from Taipei — Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang. Sania, who has lost to Hantuchova in their two career meetings, said she had been struggling with a sore wrist all week at Indian Wells. “I’ve actually had it for a few days now since we’ve been playing in the wind,’’ the 21-year-old from Hyderabad added. “In the wind, you’re hitting it all over the place and your wrist takes a lot of pressure. I play a lot with my wrist, on my forehand especially. Right now it’s very, very painful and I’m going to get an MRI (scan) in the next couple of days.’’ “Usually it doesn’t get this sore, so I’m a little worried right now. It gets sore and then it gets OK when I ice it,’’ Sania said.

Sania enters fourth round of Pacific Life Open

Sania Mirza staged a strong comeback to beat ninth seed Shahar Peer of Israel and advance to the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells on Sunday.
The Indian ace won 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 and will next face defending champion Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in the Tier-I event.
Sania, seeded 21st, lost the first set via the tie-breaker, but managed to come back strong in a tightly-fought second set winning it 7-5. However, the world number 32 had an easy time in the decider as she clinched it 6-3 to seal the contest.
It was Sania's fourth victory in as many matches over Peer, her former doubles partner.
"I was a bit irritated with myself, because I was fighting, fighting, the whole time, coming back all the time, levelling up and then not going up or finishing it," Sania said after the match.
Sania has also made it to the quarter-finals of the doubles event in this tournament. The 21-year-old partnering American Bethanie Mattek beat Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus and Russian Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 to advance to the last eight.

Groeneveld Sania’s new coach

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has hired the services of top tennis coach Sven Groeneveld, who is also coaching the world number two Serbian Ana Ivanovic. The 21-year-old, presently in Indian Wells where she’s playing the elite $2,100,000 Tier I tournament, started working with the Dutchman earlier this week. Groeneveld, who has almost two decades of international coaching experience behind him, has worked with Mary Pierce, Michael Stich, Greg Rusedski and Nicolas Kiefer among others in the past. He’ll work with Sania for 15 weeks during the course of the year. Groeneveld will coach the Hyderabadi during Grand Slams and Tier I tournaments. He will work in tandem with her father Imran, who will manage her coaching full-time for the rest of the season. “I’ve been fortunate to benefit from the skills of other topnotch coaches like Tony Roche, Bob Brett, Gabriel Urpi and John Farrington,” Sania said. “I’m confident that Sven will add another dimension to my game. Of course, my dad will continue to be with me to ensure the continuity in my development as he obviously understands my game and temperament better than anyone.” Sania, who travels with former WTA Tour physio Renuka Pinto, has been on the lookout for a coach in the new season. Last year, she worked in part with former pro Gabriel Urpi. Imran, who has coached and travelled with his daughter for the most part of the last three years, said: “I’ve known Sven for a few years now. Two years ago, he had mentioned that Sania had the best pair of hands in women’s tennis ever. He felt he could be of help in her development, but at that time Sania was working with Bob Brett. I’ve been talking with Sven for a while now and we’ll see how this goes from here.” Imran added: “Groeneveld is a vastly experienced coach, who has worked with the likes of Sharapova and Ivanovic. However, each player is an individual and that is something Sven understands.”