Sport

Sania makes short work of Shvedova

Nirmal Shekar

TENNIS / Next meets 11th seed Petrova; Roddick, Serena in third round

— Photo: AP

UNSTOPPABLE: Sania Mirza ran through Yaroslava Shvedova in double quick time and advanced to the second round at Wimbledon.

London: Girls her age seldom go to work at that hour, unless they happen to have the unenviable job of listening to — and placating — English grannies’ complaints about a Barclays bank statement or a malfunctioning microwave oven in a voice that frogs might mistake for a partnership call.

But, then, it must be said that the warmth and comfort of a modern office housing a busy BPO company in Gurgaon or Bangalore might have surely appealed to Sania Mirza as she stepped on to the No. 6 court at Wimbledon in bone-chilling conditions shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening for her first round match against the Russian teenager Yaroslava Schvedova.

A polar bear might have found the conditions perfect for a roll on the grass and a cozy snooze, although it must be admitted that the endangered creature would have found the noise from the stands — the cries of ‘come on Sania’ and the whistles — distinctly alien. Things are rather quieter in the Arctic northern Canada and Alaska.

In the event, it was hardly surprising that India’s highest achieving woman player of all time — Gosh, give her a break, she’s just 20 — should have played as if the pound-savvy dons of the All England Lawn Tennis Club had threatened to charge her an exorbitant sum for court-time.

Sania raced through the first set fairly convinced that it was a criminal offense in these parts to hit the ball a second time on any single point. The set was over in 18 minutes.

The Hyderabad girl’s opponent, the rather strikingly good looking Schvedova, aged 19, might have mistaken Sania’s intentions after what had transpired in Bangalore last February, when the Moscow teenager ousted the Indian celebrity in a WTA event which she went on to win.

But swift revenge was the last thing on Sania’s mind. She happened to be hitting the ball well and was displaying admirable court speed even as the Russian found the surface about as agreeable as one of her countrymen might consider a pub that did not stock vodka.

The answer, for Schvedova, was to give herself a break, take a deep breath and change her gameplan. The first part — the break — was accomplished easily as she disappeared from the court for over five minutes with an official in tow. The second, the tougher part, was never put in motion. It is one thing to want to change your game to suit the needs of the day. It is another to execute the plan when the resources are rather limited.

For all that, the Russian did turn things around a little after losing seven games in a row. But on a day when she was swinging at everything and bringing off some spectacular winners, Sania was unstoppable. She broke to 4-2 and closed out the match in well under an hour for a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

In keeping with the popular Grand Slam theme these days — beat a Russian, meet a Russian — next up for Sania, on Thursday, is Nadia Petrova, the 11th seed. They have met once, in San Diego in 2005, and Sania came out on top. The Russian says she carried an injury into that match.

On Wednesday, Andy Roddick, a two-time finalist here and seeded three, put up another impressive serving performance as he beat Danai Udomchoke of Thailand 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) to go through to the third round.

Roddick lost serve for the first time this week, in the eighth game of the third set, the gutsy Thai restoring balance (4-4) with a pinpoint backhand winner to the baseline.

That, surely, wasn’t going to hurt the American, although old Jimbo was seen biting his lips when Roddick dropped serve. But, then, Jimmy Connors did not have the luxury of Roddick’s nuclear serves.

Given that weapon, it is no surprise that Roddick has won 21 out of 22 tiebreaks this year (including today’s); no surprise, too, that he looks forwards to tiebreaks with the same enthusiasm with which a rottweiler might go after a juicy piece of bone.

Also through to the third round is the two-time former champion Serena Williams. She beat Alicia Molik of Australia 7-6(4), 6-3.

Even as rumours floated around (!) that the Scotland Yard has been summoned to investigate the mystery surrounding Serena’s hamstring injury — the player says she’s fine, her father Richard says she’s not — the American seventh seed dug herself a hole early in the first set.

But, then, nothing inspires Serena as much as adversity. Down 4-1, she stormed back to take the first set in a tiebreak, fighting back from 4-2 down in the breaker. Normal service resumed soon, although Molik kept Serena waiting at the net for the handshake for a full minute as she challenged the call on matchpoint. A 1000-watt smile lit up Serena’s face when it was shown on screen that the ball was out.

Scoreboard

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