Sania Mirza Tournaments 2009 ...

[usaindian]

sania tied at 4-4

[krinix]

Where you watching it?

[PKBasu]

Sania lost the first set 4-6. But she is playing quite beautifully. Her strokes have more depth and power than her opponent's, and she lost both games narrowly in the end -- the final point (at 30-40) seeing her forehand catch the top of the net, at the end of a rally that she had dominated (albeit marginally). For someone playing her first match in 5 months against the world #18, this is a pretty heartening show from Sania.

[usaindian]

here is the link for live scoreboard
http://www.jbgroupclassic.com/ti_scoreboard.php

[PKBasu]

After going down 0-2 in the second set, Sania wins three games in a row to make it 3-2. She broke Chakvetadze at love in the fourth game, with three superb service returns and one lucky one that brought a shocking UFE from Anna at 0-40. Sania's stroke-making is a treat to watch: not as breathtaking as in 2005, but one can see that she is a much cleverer player now.

[PKBasu]

Two poor games from Sania, and she's down 3-4 in the second set. She began game 7 with a double-fault, and quickly went down 0-40, 15-40 and game. Her serve remains her weakness, but let's hope she can quickly break back.

[akmohanty]

where r u watching it?

[PKBasu]

On TV in Singapore!

Sania goes down 4-5. She broke Chakvetadze, winning a long baseline rally with a brilliant running forehand down-the-line winner. Then she promptly lost her serve, which remains a weakness for Sania.

[akmohanty]

is it a local Singapore channel ?

[PKBasu]

Sania had her opponent down 15-40, but Anna kept fighting and eventually took the game and the match. But good to see Sania very competitive against a top-20 player right away. There is rust in her game, and her serve is certainly still a weakness. But it's good to have her back playing on the tour.

It's past midnight, so the timing of tonight's match is rather questionable. Both players were wearing full-sleeved shirts, presumably because it turned a lot cooler in Hong Kong tonight.

(I must say it irritates me when commentators keep pronouncing Sania's surname as "Mert-za". When will they ever get close to getting it right?).

[BSharma]

(I must say it irritates me when commentators keep pronouncing Sania's surname as "Mert-za". When will they ever get close to getting it right?).

A rose pronounced any other way will smell just as sweet. Very few American friends can pronounce my name correctly and I do not take any offense.

[PKBasu]

Just curious: how DO they pronounce your name? "Mert-za" is a bit too much, nonetheless. Where do they find that "t", for instance? The name "Walesa", for instance, is pronounced "Va-wen-sa", and most news-readers get that right. Why can't these commentators take the trouble to get "Mirza" right?

[prasen9]

"Mert-za" is a bit too much, nonetheless. Where do they find that "t", for instance?

If I were to venture a guess, I suppose some "z's" in Italian are pronounsed as "ts" as in "pizza". Why the guy thought this "z" is like some of the Italian "z"s is beyond me. If you are commentating and do see an unusual name, you should just ask. When I introduce people giving a talk and am unsure of their name's pronounciation, I simply ask. Better to be ask and be correct than not.

[Dhruv]

"Mert-za" is a bit too much, nonetheless. Where do they find that "t", for instance?

If I were to venture a guess, I suppose some "z's" in Italian are pronounsed as "ts" as in "pizza". Why the guy thought this "z" is like some of the Italian "z"s is beyond me.

Well the person running/governing the country is an Italian so maybe that's where the Italian z's came from.

[BSharma]

Just curious: how DO they pronounce your name?

I guess that this question pertains to my name and not that of Sania Mirza. More on it later...

Mirza is not a difficult name to pronounce for many people except when some people pronounce "z" as "tz" as in pizza (see Prasenjit's post above). I agree with Prasenjit that it is a good practice to ask a speaker with a difficult name how to pronounce the name before introducing a guest speaker, but we often butcher a foreign sounding difficult name when we quote a person's name in a lecture or group discussion. Prasenjit is an easy name to pronounce in India yet the Bengalis will pronounce it in a different way than a person from Delhi. I guess that the correct way to pronounce Prasenjit is the way the Bengalis do if the person is a Bengali.

Now to my name... Americans have a hard time to pronounce "Bh" and so my name becomes "Baharat" or "Barat" or "Baraat" or "Bret" and all of them with a hard "t" instead of a soft "t" (Americans have difficulty saying a soft "t"). Bhushan becomes "Bahushaan". I reached a point long time back that I do not mind the way they pronounce my name except that I do not want them to give me an American name such as Bret, etc. When it was time to choose names for my kids, we chose Indian names that could be pronounced easily by people in USA.