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Three for gold, gold for three?
People came expecting a double delight from Indian top-guns in tennis; they got more than their money?s worth, writes Ajai Masand.
THEY HAD come here expecting a double delight from the Indian top-guns in tennis; they got more than their money’s worth at the Khalifa Tennis complex on Tuesday.
Sania Mirza sent the crowd into celebration mode with a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of China’s Li Na, the top seed.
Then Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi sent the massive crowd into frenzy when they beat Cecil Mamit and Frederick Taino of the Philippines 6-2, 6-4.
Leander and Sania then paired up in the mixed doubles semifinals to win 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 over the Chinese pair of Xinyuan Yu and Tian Tian Sun to complete India’s fine run on the tennis courts. The Indians will play Satoshi Iwabuchi and Aiko Morigami of Japan in the summit clash.
Crowds danced to the tune of Made in India, children waved the Tricolour as the three Indian stars held court, and it seemed only Indians were invited. Sania was the queen of the court as she played a near-flawless game against the world No. 21 Na, who seemed clueless about what went wrong for her — merely ‘erratic’ would be a mild word to describe how she fared this blazing afternoon.
Na tried to overawe Sania with her aggression in the opening game, but Sania was all game, firing winners from both flanks. Revelling in the atmosphere, Sania broke Na — who had beaten her in the Asian Championships final at Tashkent in 2004 — in the opening game.
The Indian broke her error-prone opponent again in the fifth game, after the Chinese girl made an unforced error at the net and then double-faulted. Up 4-1, Sania easily took the set.
Na tried to play a tactical game in the second, making Sania cover the length and breadth of the court, but the Indian was up to it, rifling backhands from the baseline with élan. “The third game in the second set was the turning point…after nine deuces and four break points, I finally managed to break her,” said Sania later.
It was a trial by fire in the third game, and Sania came out triumphant. That break seemed to completely demoralise her opponent, who lost her serve at love in the fifth game to go 1-4 down, and the writing was on the wall.
Sania now takes on another Chinese player, Zheng Ji, who got the better of Aiko Nakamura, 6-3, 6-2. “Yes, the crowd was a slight distraction, but they meant well for me and that is what matters,” said the Indian ace.
Easy for Lee-Hesh
SOMEONE IN the crowd shouted, “It’s a match made in heaven”. Well, those who saw Paes and Bhupathi make a mockery of Mamit and Taino would vouch for that.
The delectable net volleys Leander crafted out of nowhere and the way the two backed each other to the hilt thrilled the crowd no end. Only the chest bumps were missing, but judging by the way they are playing, they could come in the final on Wednesday.
The Filipinos were broken in the first and seventh games of the opening set, after which Bhupathi won his serve at love to win the set 6-2. In the second set, things went with serve till 2-2, when Taino was broken after he was passed by Paes, and Bhupathi hit a cross-court smash to break Mamit’s serve in the seventh game.
A slight wobble in the eighth game saw Bhupathi dropping serve, but that was only a small blemish in a flawless display that lasted only 65 minutes. “With everyone cheering for us, we raised our level of play,” said Paes. “We made the match look easy, although it was not.”
Results (all semifinals)
Women’s singles: Sania Mirza beat Li Na 6-2, 6-2; Jie Zheng beat Aiko Nakamura 6-3, 6-2; Men’s doubles: Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi beat Cecil Mamit-Frederick Taino 6-2, 6-4; Mixed doubles: Leander Paes/Sania Mirza beat Yu Xinyuan/Sun TianTian 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
