Sport - Tennis

Sania loses, Sunitha advances

Birmingham: Sania Mirza’s comeback from injury ended in agony but Sunitha Rao’s dream run continued as she advanced to the quarterfinals of the WTA DFS Classic here on Wednesday.

Sania, seeded sixth, went down 6-3, 6-0 to New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic.

However, Sunitha, a qualifier, continued her winning run as she rallied to beat local challenger Naomi Cavaday 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Big-serving American Andy Roddick began his pursuit of a fifth Queen’s title on Wednesday, thumping down 15 aces to beat compatriot Robby Ginepri 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1 at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

The results: At London: ATP Artois Championships: Second round: Andy Roddick bt Robby Ginepri 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1; Richard Gasquet bt Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-3; Kei Nishikori bt Olivier Patience 7-6(8), 6-3; Lleyton Hewitt bt Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-2; Ernests Gulbis bt Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-3; Rafael Nadal bt Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-2; Mario Ancic bt Fernando Verdasco 7-6(6), 6-4; Ivo Karlovic bt Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 6-2.

At Halle: ATP Gerry Weber Open: Second round: Robin Soderling bt Tomas Berdych 6-2, 7-5; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Tommy Haas 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(5); Andreas Beck bt Mischa Zverev 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-1. First round: Michael Llodra bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5), 7-5.

At Warsaw: ATP Orange Warsaw Open: Second round: Nikolay Davydenko bt Jiri Vanek 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; Evgeny Korolev bt Potito Starace 7-5, 4-0 (retd.). First round: Tommy Robredo bt Michal Przysiezny 7-5 6-2.

At Birmingham: WTA DFS Classic: Second round: Alona Bondarenko bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-5; Marina Erakovic bt Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-0; Yanina Wickmayer bt Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Yaroslava Shvedova bt Katie O’Brien 7-5, 1-6, 7-5; Sunitha Rao bt Naomi Cavaday 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.