Sania Mirza went down fighting against world number eight and top seed Anna Chakvetadze in the singles semifinal of the $175,000 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament.
The Indian star, seeded third, pushed her more fancied Russian opponent to the limit but lost 2-6, 7-5, 3-6 at the WTA Tier III event.
Sania, who played her fourth three-setter in as many matches, tried hard to keep herself in contention by pulling off the second set but Chakvetadze came back stronger to race out to a 4-0 lead in the decider.
Making her first semi-final appearance after quarter-final exits at each of the last two editions of the tournament, Sania confessed that she ran out of steam towards the end.
"She played a great match; she's a tricky player to play. After the second set, I was mentally drained after playing so many close points. I think my level dropped a bit and hers raised and when you are playing the Top 10 you can't afford to do that," she said.
Chakvetadze, who fought back from 4-1 down in the second set only to get pushed to a third, said Sania did not play well.
"It was really up and down on both sides. In the first set she didn't play very well, making a lot of mistakes. In the third, she was more relaxed because she was down 5-0. But overall, it was a good match."
