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Sania loses singles, but wins doubles

— PHOTO: AFP

MIXED LUCK: Sania Mirza (right) surrendered to Anna Chakvetadze in the singles final, but she had the consolation of winning the West Bank Classic tournament doubles title.

Stanford: Sania Mirza stumbled at the final hurdle as she was tamed by top-seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in the title clash of the $600,000 West Bank Classic WTA event here on Sunday.

Sania, who had tasted defeat at the hands of the Russian in the Cincinnati semifinals last week, once again surrendered to the might of Chakvetadze, who notched up a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory for her second title in as many weeks.

However, there was some consolation in store for Sania as she combined with Shahar Peer of Israel to grab the doubles crown. In the final, the Indo-Israeli pair defeated Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Chakvetadze 6-4, 7-6(5).

Sania, who had upset two top 20 players, Patty Schnyder and Tatiana Golovin, on her way to the final, was tired enough to pose any threat to the superior Chakvetadze.

After the match, Sania admitted that she was completely drained and could not give her best.

“Yes, I am (tired). Both mentally and physically. In the first set, I was there but I just could not string games together. I was a little tentative, hoping she would make the mistake. Today I was not hitting the ball as clean as I was this week. After I lost the first set, she just dominated the match.

“Even on changeovers, we were sitting there and you could just tell how tired we both were. But I played consistent tennis this week and I am confident that I can continue to do that in future tournaments,” she said.

Sania, who got a huge crowd support, said Chakvetadze proved her toughness in the adverse situation.

“She plays much better when people are against her. I think that pumped her up more.

“Some people like it, some don’t and maybe she is one that does,” Sania said.

The 35th-ranked Indian said her immediate goal would be break into the top 20 in world rankings.

“I believe in realistic goals. I am a very practical person. That is why I have always said the top-20 is my goal.”

In order to achieve her aim of improving individual ranking, Sania said she could cut down on her doubles appearances.

“I did that during the end of last year. It is possible to stop playing as much doubles when you continue to go deep into the tournaments. I don’t know yet but I might consider it,” she said.

After a successful week, that brought her some memorable individual wins and a doubles title, Sania said, “I have not had much time to celebrate. I have not even had dinner outside of my hotel room once this week. I have been playing night matches and afterwards, I am just so exhausted.”

Russian third seed Dmitry Tursunov won his second career title with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Frank Dancevic of Canada at the Indianapolis championship. The 27th-ranked Tursunov had been in two previous finals, winning the 2006 title at Mumbai and finishing runner-up at the 2006 Los Angeles tournament.

Dancevic, ranked 109, was competing in his first career tour final. Before this week the Canadian had never reached a quarter-final.

Tursunov broke serve in the third game of the first set and the 11th game of the second set to set up his victory.

Spain’s Carlos Moya won the $490,000 (353,000-euro) ATP tournament at Umag (Croatia), beating Romania’s Andrei Pavel 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

The results: At Stanford (Bank of the West Classic): Final: Anna Chakvetadze bt Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-2.