Sania and her doubles partners

A new subforum created to discuss Sania Mirza. As a lot of the other tennis player threads were getting overloaded, thus a new forum to discuss Sania Mirza

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rajorshi
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Sania and her doubles partners

Post by rajorshi »

With the 14th doubles title in her kitty, this is just the right time to discuss about Sania's notable doubles partnerships till now. She will of course be back in top 10 and hopefully will retain the spot after FO! :D So lets begin with Sania's current partner...

...The 'Lady Gaga of Tennis', Bethanie Mattek!- They had decent outings in 2006 and won their 1st and only title (till few hours ago) at Cinncinati 2007. They have reached the quarters of both the slams they played. These were Sania's best GS doubles results till Vesnina came in. Noe with Ves gone, they are back.Hope the new Brussels Champs continue the good work in the rest of the year.

Liezel Huber- Till date, Huber is the only player with whom Sania has won 3 WTA titles. Interestingly all these 3 came in India and were her 1st 3 doubles titles. They played together at USO 2006 but lost in Rd 3. Their recent off-court rapport does not look that good otherwise no reason why they can't team up again. Sania has actually beaten Huber all the times they met in mixed doubles.

Elena Vesnina- Sania most successful partnership broke up due to the Olympics this year. Though they have won only 2 titles, their performance at GS has been exemplary with final at RG and semis at W and AO. They, of course played in just 1 International event. None of Sania's other doubles partnerships have come even close to this.

Shahar Peer- After the Big Three, the name that comes to my mind is that of Peer. Friends since juniors, they didn't let religion come in the way of tennis. Infact their win at Stanford was Sania 1st Premier level title. They played 1 more event at Los Angeles 2007. Yet to pair up since then.

Vania king- Sania's 1st doubles title outside India came with her at Fes. However I don't think they have won any other matches together despite playing at AO 2009 and Japan Open 2009.

Mara Santangelo- Sania won 4 doubles titles in 2007 with 4 different partners and 1 of them was Mara. It was a surprise win for this pair who lost just 3 games to the then No1 team Huber/Black at New Haven final. Surprisingly they did not do very well in any other events.

Chuang Chia-jung- -In 2009 this pair looked liked the next big thing. They made semis at Miami and Madrid and won Ponte Vedra Beach. However they did not go beyond Rd 2 at GS and hence broke up.

Anastasia Rodionova- Won Pattaya Open this year but don't look like a great pair to me as both like to play on deuce court.

Alicia Molik- Sania has few well-wishers who praise her as much as Alicia! They never won a title but did well in quite a few events reaching final at Istanbul and rd3 at AO 2008. Another player with whom Sania played now and then with fine results is Fransesca Schiavone . They last played in USO 2009.

Caroline Wozniacki-- Though they played in just 1 event, Wimbledon 2010, they deserve a special mention as after this, Caro went on to become No1! In this context it may be stated here that Sania played with Kim Clijsters in an exhibition match in 2006 beating the William sisters!!!

Jannete Husarova-- Sania's 1st rd3 appearance in doubles came at FO 2006 with this veteran. I don't think they played again.

Sania played 1 event each with Edina Gallovits and Yaroslava Shedova winning the titles both the times. I hope she plays with the latter sometime in future. Among some well known names, Michaella Krajiceck (W 2006), Anabel Medina(AO 2007) and Vera Dushevina(USO 2009) are few players with whom Sania played in just 1 GS. I think Sania's 1st ever GS doubles 1st rd win came with Yuliana Fedak in FO 2005.
Flavia Penneta,Jie Zheng and Alisa Klebaynova are 3 players with whom I want to see Sania play. She was to play with Penneta at Stuggart but had to pull out due to the latter's injury. Martina Sanchenz is perhaps another player who can compliment her game perfectly.




PS: Please add any other partnerships that I might have ignored.
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by Saniapower »

Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, Sunfeast Open 2005, Kolkata

4the seeded Sania Mirza & Virginia Ruano Pascual playing Elena Likhovtseva and Anastasia Myskina, won the first set 6-4. But then their top seeded opponents came back to take the second, 6-3. The third set was a closely fought affair, but the Russian pair prevailed to win the set 7 -5 and with it the match. Sania & Pascual had mp in that tie. Had they prevailed then they would have met Sikha & Neha Uberoi in the final and Sania would have had 15 tiltes(1 more) by now.
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by rajorshi »

O yes. How could I forget Pascual! She was No 1 then. Sania/Pascual latter played in 2010 making the rd 3 at AO. Another partner I missed is Marta Domchowska with whom Sania made the Cinncinati final in 2006. They however didn't do well in other events.
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by prashanthm »

Mattek-Sands is probably not playing the Wimbledon 2012, she is not in the Singles Qualifying draw, whom do you think will be the partner for Sania now? A new one, good one at that, will be difficult to come by at such short notice, I guess....
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by prashanthm »

Sania played with Suarez (ARG) for one week before the Wimbledon at Eastbourne.

Looks like Mattek-Sands is back for the Wimbledon...
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by rajorshi »

Time to post about Sania mixed doubles partners (apart from Bhupathi).

PAVEL VIZNIER- The 1st name that comes to my mind is that of Viznier! Before partnering with Bhupathi, he was Sania's best mixed doubles partner.

Wimbledon 2006
Rd1 Mirza/Viznier d Verdasco/Garrigues 6-2 7-5
Rd2 Mirza/Viznier d Freidl/Huber 6-1 6-1
Rd3 Mirza/Viznier l Nestor/Likhotsova 3-6 7-5 2-6

They lost another tight match in USO 2006
Rd1 Mirza/Viznier l Zimonjic/Strebotnik 2-6 6-3 7-10

Fabrice Santoro- Another top doubles player of the time with whom Sania played in 2 grand slams.

Australian Open 2007
Rd1 Mirza/Santoro l Stubbs/Knowles 6-7 6-1 7-10

French Open 2007
Rd1 Mirza/Santoro d King/Cermak 6-2 6-0
Rd2 Mirza/Santoro l Strebotnik/Zimonjic 2-6 7-6

Daniel Nestor- Another big name with whom Sania played in just 1 slam- USO 2009.
Rd1 Nestor/Mirza d Amanmuradova/Fisher 6-3 6-1
Rd2 Nestor/Mirza l Gullickson/ Parrott 1-6 4-6. The WC entrants were the eventual champs beating Huber/Bhupathi and Black/Paes in semis and Final respectively.

ROHAN BOPANNA!!! I am not how sure many people realize this but Sania and Rohan's best performance in Wimbledon mixed doubles came with each other. Their 1st GS match was at FO 2011 where they lost in rd 1 in 2 tie breaks. In the next event they made all the way to the quarters. Bops is the only other player apart from Bhupathi, with whom Sania made the quarters in a slam.

Wimbledon 2011
Rd1 Bye
Rd2 Mirza/Bopanna d Murray/Gajdosova 7-6 6-2
Rd3 Mirza/Bopanna d Damn/Voraceva 6-3 3-0
QF Mirza/Bopanna l Hanley/Hseih 6-1 2-6 2-6

Strangely this pair was completely ignored for the Olympics and ironically the pair who never played in a GS or faced any worthy oppositions got selected.

Stephan Huss- AO 2006 was perhaps the 1st time, Sania took part in mixed doubles with Huss, losing 3-6 3-6 to Zvonareva/Bryan B

Paul Hanley- Played together at FO 2006, losing 0-6 4-6 to Bryan/Navratilova!


I think both Hanley and Viznier are deuce court players. So wonder why Paes and she never played in a slam. Of course these partnerships were in the early stages of her mixed doubles career.
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by rajorshi »

Updating the records of Sania/Bhupathi from my earlier post in the Olympics thread. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=215733&start=45
Results of Sania/Paes and Sania/Rohan at non-grand slam events are posted there.

Wimbledon 2007
Rd1 d D Škoch/J Husárová 6-3 6-4
Rd2 l (9) M Matkowski/ C Black 4-6 4-6

US Open 2007
Rd1 d (7) E Likhovtseva/D Nestor 6-0 6-2 (most dominant victory ever? ;) )
Rd2 d T Golovin/B Bryan 7-6 3-6 10-2
QF l V Azarenka/M Miryni 4-6 1-6
The Belarussian team was the eventual champs.

Aus Open 2008
Rd1 d I Benešová/L Friedl 6-4 6-2
Rd2 d L Raymond/ S Aspelin 6-3 2-6 10-7
QF d K Peschke/M Damm w/o
SF d N Dechy/A Ram 6-4 6-2
F l T Sun/N Zimonjic 6-7 4-6 (Sania was injured)

Wimbledon 2008
Rd1 Bye
Rd2 l M Kirlenko/I Andreev 3-6 6-7

Aus Open 2009
Rd1 d K Pescke/P Viznier 6-2 6-4
Rd2 d A Rodionova/S Huss 6-1 6-2
QF d A Wozniak/D Nestor 3-6 6-4 10-5
SF d I Benesova/L Dlouhy 6-4 6-1
F d N Dechy/A Ram 6-3 6-1

Won it as a WC pair!

French Open 2009
Rd 1 l N Dechy/A Ram 1-6 5-7

Wimbledon 2009
Rd1 bye
Rd2 d C Fleming/S Borwell 7-6 6-4
Rd 3 l C Black/L Paes 2-6 7-6 3-6

US Open 2011
Rd1 l L Hradecká/F Čermák 3-6 5-7

Aus Open 2012
Rd1 d N Grandin/J-J Rojer 6-4 6-2
Rd2 d J Melzer/I Benesova 3-6 6-4 12-10 (saved a match pt)
QF d L Huber/ C Fleming 7-6 6-2
SF l B Mattek-Sands/H Tecău 3-6 3-6

THEY WON THE FRENCH OPEN RECENTLY. Here are the complete results.
French Open 2012
Rd1 d R Kops-Jones/ E Butorac 6-2 6-4
Rd2 d V Razzano/N Devilder 7-6 6-3
QF d K Peschke/ M Bryan 6-2 6-3
SF d G Voskoboeva/ D Bracciali 6-4 6-2
F d K Jans-Ignacik/S González 7-6 6-1

CHAMPIONS YET AGAIN!!! Before this,they played here just once in 2009 losing in rd 1.

Wimbledon 2012
Rd1 bye
Rd2 l P Hanley/ A Kudryavtseva 3-6 1-6. Turned out to be their worst match ever in terms of the number of games won. So far their record at Wimbledon hasnt been that good. Only 2 wins from 4 appearances. No Olympics for them as a pair, of course. :goodluck: at USO 2012
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Re: Sania and her doubles partners

Post by prasen9 »

Very small sample size to draw any conclusions. But, they seem to like the Aussie Open. Note, their worst was at the French before they won it all. So, go figure. Good luck to them for the future.
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