A gritty Sania Mirza saved four match points before going down 3-6, 6-2, 6-7 (3) to top seed Anastasia Rodionova in a heart-stopping women's singles final to settle for a silver in the tennis competition of the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
Sania's defeat means that India's hopes of getting a gold medal would rest on Somdev Devvarman, who will play in the men's singles against Australia's Greg Jones on Saturday. Top seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the bronze defeating second seed Rohan Bopanna and Somdev 6-3, 7-6(4). Before the tournament started, the Indian pairs were expected to play in the finals thereby getting atleast a couple of medals for the country.
Meanwhile, Rodionova became the first player to win a gold medal in the debut year of the sport in the Games. The 137th ranked, Sania, almost pulled it off, rising from dead, but ended up losing when she double-faulted in the decisive tie-break.
She made a spirited comeback after surrendering the opening set, as she drew level and then stretched the match to a decisive third set, where she saved three match points in the 12th game to force a tie-breaker.
The second seed Indian served poorly but hit two of her four aces in the 12th game to keep her hopes alive.
Down 1-3 in the tie break with a mini break of serve, and then 3-6 with three match points to save, Sania could not catch up as she double-faulted for one last time to concede the gold to world no 62 Rodionova. Sania had broken Rodionova in the first game of the third set to go 2-0 up but could not build on the mini lead and allowed Rodionova to come back by dropping her serve thrice.
"I think it was important to give my best, but I fell a bit short. It's an honour to play for my country," Sania said after the match. Rodionova, a Russian who converted to Australian, said it was really a proud moment to earn the gold for her country.
"I have been trying really hard... Now I feel to be a real Australian," Rodionova said.
At the start, there was hardly any change in script for Sania as she continued to struggle with her serve. Like Friday, she could not hold her serve in the error-prone first set. Rodionova was equally erratic as she hardly had control over her shots.
After trading breaks in the first five games, the Australian finally held one to go ahead 4-2. Two more double faults coupled with a forehand error by Sania put Rodionova within a game from taking the first set.
The top seed dropped her serve when she fired a backhand to net, but she sealed the first set with a backhand past winner in the next game. The sixth game was the only one, which was not broken in the entire opening set that lasted 29 minutes.
The second unfolded differently as Sania saved two breakpoints -- second and fourth games -- and broke in the third game to take a 3-1 lead. Sania's fierce forehand fetched her points at crucial moments as the two players were locked in an intense baseline-battle. The Indian saved another breakpoint in the sixth game for a 4-2 cushion, got another break in the next game and drew level when Rodionova hit a forehand long.
Sania curbed her errors in the second set as she committed just one double fault, comparing to six in the opening set. The capacity crowd also backed the home favourite, much to the annoyance of Rodionova, who lost her cool due to distraction caused by noise but went on to seal the match.
