Date:26/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/08/26/stories/2005082609612000.htm

Sport - Tennis

Sania enters quarterfinals

NEW YORK: Third-seeded Sania Mirza recovered from a sluggish start to overpower Shahar Peer of Israel 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round of the Forest Hills Women's Classic on Wednesday.

But the 16-player tournament lost its top two seeds, with No. 1 Akiko Morigami of Japan losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to American Alexa Glatch and No. 2 Anna Smashnova of Israel falling 7-5, 6-3 to Lucie Safarova.

The third-seeded Mirza was down 3-5 in the first set but broke back to force a tie-break, where she she reeled off three successive points from 3-3 and converted the second set point. There was little drama in the second set, as Mirza ran up a 4-0 lead and then served the match out at 5-1.

"I am happy to have played well on my return to the circuit. I went in with a gameplan as I knew what I had to do. More than winning, am glad that my stomach held up," she said.

"I'm happy that I didn't aggravate the injury. I did feel the pain when I went for big serves. Luckily, I didn't have to try that in the second."

Davydenko ousted

Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina upset top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 7-6(5) in the second round of the Pilot Pen International on Wednesday.

The results: At New Haven (Pilot Pen International): Second round: Men: David Ferrer bt Tomas Zib 6-3, 6-3; Nicolas Massu bt Andy Ram 6-4, 5-7, 7-5; Phillip Kohlschreiber bt Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-1; Vincent Spadea bt Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-5; James Blake bt Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 7-6(2); Fernando Gonzalez bt Justin Gimelstob 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 7-6(5); Stefan Koubek bt Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; Igor Andreev bt Olivier Rochus 7-6(1), 7-6(2); Tommy Haas bt Christophe Rochus 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. Doubles (first round): Jonathan Erlich & Andy Ram bt Mahesh Bhupathi & Martin Damm 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Women: Anna Chakvetadze bt Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3; Daniela Hantuchova bt Patty Schnyder 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Anna-Lena Groenefeld bt Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3, 7-5; Jie Zheng bt Jamea Jackson 6-3, 6-4; Amelie Mauresmo bt Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-3.

At New York (Forest Hills Women's Classic): Lucie Safarova bt Anna Smashnova 7-5, 6-3; Martina Sucha bt Mariana Diaz-Oliva 6-3, 6-3; Alexa Glatch bt Akiko Morigami 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Sania Mirza bt Shahar Peer 7-6(4), 6-1.