Sania Mirza's run at the Bangalore Open came to an end on Friday when she was beaten by Russia's Yaroslava Shvedova in the quarter-finals, at the KSLTA Kingfisher Signature Tennis Centre, in Bangalore.
The second seeded Indian ace won the first set narrowly but was unable to match the unseeded 143-ranked Russian in the next two and went down 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a little under two-and-a-half hours.
It looked as if Sania, who had advanced to the last eight stage after two three-setters, would pull it off as she broke the Russian in the opening game of the third set and then held serve. But the world No 49, who displayed a cool head in crunch situations, was handed back the break in the third game. The 19-year-old Shevdova effected another break in the fifth game and then held to race to a 4-2 lead.
Thereafter it was only a question of the Russian holding serve, which she did, to take the set and match, and register her best result on the WTA circuit.
The first set saw both players prefer to trade in long rallies and, as such, games went with serve. With no breaks comng it trickled into the tie-breaker. Sania won six straight points after conceding the first and took it comfortably at 7-2.
But the second set saw the Russian get more aggressive and attack the Indian's backhand. Sania was forced into committing a lot of errors and broken twice.
"This is my best win and I'm happy that the crowd equally supported me. My coach watched Sania's game yesterday very closely and a strategy was made. My plan was to attack her backhand as it is not as strong as her forehand," said an elated Shvedova at the post-match conference.
"It is disappointing. I gave all that I had. If someone had troubled me in my returns, then she must be serving exceptionally well, her second serve was kicking, and I had to jump to return her serves. May be God didn't want me to win today," said a depressed Sania.
There was another upset when fourth seed Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia was shocked by Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 3-6, 4-6.
Earlier in the day, Yurika Sema and Melinda Czink of Hungary were shown the door by defending champion Mara Santangelo of Italy and Tzipora Obziler of Israel respectively.
The 36th- ranked Santangelo took less than 60 minutes to defeat the 237th-ranked Sema 6-1, 6-4.
Apart from Santangelo none of the seven seeded players could make it to the semi finals.
In Saturday's semi-finals, Santangelo will meet Savchuk, while Yaroslava Shvedova takes on Obziler.
It was cakewalk for the top seed as she broke early in the first set, after which there was no looking back.
In the second set, she broke Sema's service in the first and seventh games. Though Sema showed some resistance and broke the Italian in the eighth game, Santangelo had the last laugh as she won the 10th game and with it the match.
"Yesterday, I was not playing to my full potential, but today I was more focused and aggressive from the very beginning," said Santangelo at the post-match conference.
Obziler beat Czink 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in a match that lasted 105 minutes. The victory took the Israeli to the top 100 for the first time in her career, at the age of 34.
Right from the start, Obziler had an edge over Czink, winning the first three games. Obziler was in a hurry and made it obvious that she did not want the match to go beyond two sets. However, Czink had planned it differently and took the next three games to level at 3-3. The next two games took the score to 4-4. Obziler sprung back and claimed the last two games to clinch the first set 6-4.
The story was repeated in the second set and everyone was waiting for the obvious. With renewed energy, Czink fought back and thought she could turn the game in her favour as the second set went in for a tie-breaker.
While the first three serves helped her, Czink was not able to maintain the momentum, as the returns were not to her liking. Obziler fought back and won the tie-breaker 7-3 and with this the match.
"It makes me feel very good as I broke into Top 100. I have been playing very good tennis for the last six months. I am ready to play with anybody in the semi-finals. Last year I played with Sania in Hyderabad, but that was not a good day at work," said Obziler.
In the doubles, the top seeded Taipei pair of Yung Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang stormed into final, defeating Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia and Christina Horiatopoulos of Australia 6-3, 6-2 in 60 minutes.
Results (singles quarter-finals):
Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4
Tzipora Obziler (Isr) bt Melinda Czink (Hun) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Yurika Sema (Jpn) 6-1, 6-4
Olga Savchuk (Ukr) bt Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) 6-3, 6-4
