India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza's brilliant run in the USD 170,000 AIG Japan Open Tennis Tournament came to an end in the semifinal on Saturday after she lost to France's Tatiana Golovin in straight sets.
Sania's fine form in the tournament eluded her against the third seed as she went down 2-6, 4-6 in the tier III ATP-WTA tournament.
Tatiana set up a summit clash with Czech Republic's Nicole Vaidisova who beat Russia's Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-2.
The Indian tennis star made a brave comeback from 5-0 down in the second set after being swept away in the first but unforced errors once again came back to haunt her.
An off-colour Sania, who upset Vera Zvonareva of Russia in a thrilling three-setter yesterday, ran out of steam in the first set as the Frenchwoman breezed through the first set.
Egged by the cheering crowd, the 37-ranked Sania rallied from behind (5-0) to give a scare to her opponent in the second set.
Sania found her lethal power-packed forehand winners going and broke the 25-ranked Frenchwoman twice. After the brief rain interruption with Tatiana leading 5-2, Sania pocketed the next two games but a few unforced errors on crucial points halted her progress.
Golovin took a comforatble 40-15 lead in the 10th game before Sania's wide backhand on the third match point handed over the match to Tatiana.
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"At 5-4, it could have gone either way, but then I played a couple of loose shots," she added.
"She (Golovin) was retrieving the balls so well. I started well, but then it got windy, and I think she adjusted to the conditions better than me. She was hitting winners and played a solid match."
Sania's forehand found a special mention by Tatiana. "She hits her forehand cross so hard that they are difficult to hit back. I had to play my own game and somehow she started to make unforced errors but that's how tennis goes."
In the other semi-final, Kirilenko, fresh from her first career title at the China Open two weeks ago, twice came back from a service break down in the first set, but the fourth seed fell 6-4 when she sent a forehand into the net.
Vaidisova jumped ahead 3-0 in the second set and never looked back, finishing off the 78-minute match on another forehand error from Kirilenko.
"I think I played better, I got into my rhythm better, so definitely I'm happy about that. I still have a lot of work to do for tomorrow and next week, but overall I used my chances better," said Vaidisova.
"At 5-4 I broke her. I broke her a couple of times first and I was broken back, but in the second set it was basically me under control of the match. It was good, definitely."
As for the final, Vaidisova said, "I'll do 100 percent to win the final. I've won the title last week, but being here again in the final is great. I'm excited about it."
Last year, Golovin came to Tokyo as one of the favourites after becoming the youngest player to win the French Open mixed doubles title, but surprisingly lost to then underdog Vaidisova in her first match here.
Vaidisova arrived in Tokyo after winning her third career title at the Korea Open last weekend, while Golovin is seeking her first title in only her second appearance in a WTA final.
"Last year was my first year on the tour, so everything was new to me. Now it feels more like I know what I'm doing. I just feel more confident and more at ease when I'm on the court," said Golovin.
"But definitely it's gonna be really, really tough because Nicole is really confident. She feels great out there and she played a great match today."
