Sport

Sweet revenge for Sania Mirza

Tim Henman books quarterfinal spot at Thailand Open

SEOUL: Top seed Martina Hingis crashed out of the $145,000 Hansol Korea Open in spectacular fashion here on Thursday losing to Sania Mirza in the second round 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Just five days after Hingis swept the 19-year-old aside in the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open, a competition that she went on to win, the Swiss star encountered a much-improved Sania at Seoul Olympic Park.

"It is my third match against her this year and I guess it is third time lucky," said a smiling Sania. "Every match is a different match and every week is a different week — this proves that," she added.

When Sania produced some stunning strokeplay to twice come back from 0-40 to win the game in the opening three games, the crowd sensed an upset.

However, Sania's below-par service let her down and four double faults interrupted her momentum. Hingis, who had been struggling to impose herself on the game, took advantage to win a hard-fought first set 6-4.

Different ball game

The second was an entirely different affair as Sania stormed back in style to overpower her bewildered rival and take the set without dropping a game.

The final set was a much closer affair but the World No. 59 was always in control and dominated play, producing four exquisite returns to win a Hingis service game to love.

Sania's erratic serve threatened to let Hingis back into the game but although Hingis survived two match points, Sania had the last laugh.

In the quarterfinal, Sania will face Virginia Ruano Pascual after the Spaniard overcame Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja in straight sets.

"I've never played Virginia before, but I haven't thought too much about it. When you play Martina, you don't look too far ahead," Sania quipped.

Dementieva through

Elena Dementieva of Russia defeated Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Fortis Championships in Luxembourg on Wednesday.

Henman in last eight

Tim Henman won his second all-British battle in a row on Thursday as he shrugged off a pair of poor line calls to defeat Alex Bogdanovic 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 for a place in the quarterfinals at the Thailand Open.

The 32-year-old followed up on his first-round win over Andy Murray by fighting through against Bogdanovic in two hours, 20 minutes.

The results:

At Bangkok (ATP Thailand Open): Second round: Jarkko Nieminen bt Frank Dancevic 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4; Robby Ginepri bt Danai Udomchoke 6-3, 6-3; Tim Henman bt Alex Bogdanovic 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

At Palermo (ATP Internazionali di Sicilia): First round: Nicolas Lapentti bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; Gianluca Naso bt Jiri Vanek 1-2 (retd.); Frantisek Cermak bt Andrei Pavel 6-3, 2-6, 7-5; Fernando Verdasco bt Daniele Bracciali 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; Mariano Zabaleta bt Olivier Patience 7-5, 3-6, 6-3; Filippo Volandri bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3.

At Seoul: (WTA Hansol Korea Open): Second round: Sania Mirza bt Martina Hingis 4-6, 6-0, 6-4; Paola Suárez bt Catalina Castaño 6-4, 6-3; Virginia Ruano Pascual bt Angelique Widjaja 6-4, 6-3; Ai Sugiyama bt Anastassia Rodionova 6-3, 6-1.

At Luxembourg (WTA Fortis Championships): Second round: Elena Dementieva bt Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-1; Patty Schnyder bt Chanda Rubin 6-0, 6-3; Dinara Safina bt Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 6-3; Kveta Peschke bt Karin Knapp 6-4, 6-4. First round: Venus Williams bt Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4; Katarina Srebotnik bt Maria Elena Camerin 6-4, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Mara Santangelo 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-3.

At Guangzhou (WTA International Open): Second round: Olga Poutchkova bt Jelena Kostanic 6-1, 6-1; Chen Yanchong bt Anastasiya Yakimova 6-1, 6-4. — Agencies

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