$1.3M Tier-I WTA - Acura Classic, La Costa (San Diego)

[Varma]

Sania Mirza bt Katareina Bondarenko 6-4, 7-6(2)

First of all, a big thanks to Jay for getting me the Media credentials and making it easier to move around various courts of the event venue, La Costa Resort & Spa. It was a 55 mile drive from where I live and luckily enough there was no traffic. I was able to reach there an hour before the match, which was scheduled as the second match in this year's newly built Grandstand court. Well, I was naturally excited to finally be able to see the reigning queen of Indian tennis, SANIA MIRZA, in action. Roughly around 150-200 people were there in the stands, close to 30% of them being Indians. Sania entered the court to a rousing reception from the Desi crowd. Quite a few parents brought their kids to watch Sania, which was very nice. I got to meet John Ferrington before the match started. I asked him about Sania's stomache muscle strain and he said it still bothers her, but not to an extent that affects her performance. Now that she has a day off tomorrow, I hope she will be fully fit when she faces Gorbin in the first round of the main draw.

1st Set

KB won the toss and elected to serve.

Game 1: KB started the match with a well placed first serve, quite a good one, and Sania hit the return into the net (15-0). On the next point, Sania hit quite a powerful winner, a back hand down the line(15-15). I haven't seen her "famous forehand" yet, but I was definitely surprised at the power she packed into that backhand winner. KB served an ace down the T (30-15), which was nullified by a double fault that followed (30-30). Sania tried for a winner off of KB's second serve which caught the tape (40-30) and followed it with a not so impressive Forehand winner on the next point (Deuce). Just 6 points into the match, I was feeling restless and couldn't wait to see Sania's power. As if Sania sensed my craving, she unleashed a big forehand that resulted in a winner. Yes folks, I was simply awestruck by the power of "Sania's sonic whopper" (hereafter referred to as SSW) and so was KB. As if she was complimenting Sania, she gifted her the first game in the form of a double fault. (1-0)

Game 2: Three consecutive service winners, followed by an ace, saw Sania pocket this game at love (2-0). All of Sania's first serves got in, but I could see why her serve is far from being potent. She needs to seriously work on this aspect, otherwise while facing top 10 or 20, she will be under a lot of pressure to hold on to her serve.

Game 3: KB started the game with an ace (15-0). On a weak second serve, Sania went for a rushing backhand winner which caught the net. Firstly, she was in a very bad position to try such an outright winner. Instead, she could have used it to setup her shots(30-0). As Arun mentioned in one of his recent postings, there is a huge difference between being aggressive and being aggressive all the time. I hope she learns it sooner than later. Sure, she wins most of the points by taking risks. But if she can convert her aggression to "controlled aggression", things will certainly get better for her. For sure, she needs to learn how to stay in the point. SSW# 2, a crosscourt forehand winner, gave her the first point of the game (30-15). Then she hit a return wide, followed by a forehand down the line, but hit another backhand wide. KB managed to hold her game (2-1).

Game 4: With three consecutive unforced errors followed by a double fault Sania handed the game to KB (2-2). Two of those unforced errors were just outright ridiculous. Both of them were similar, high flying returns from KB which were begging to be hit and Sania went for over aggressive forehand on both the occasions. I believe most of it is due to her sluggish movement. She has to improve her speed a lot. She might be able to move up a notch or two with her current repertoire, but unless and until she improves her speed, agility and serve, it will be difficult for her to move to the elite group. I am sure she is already working on it and hopefully we will see the results in the near future.

Game 5:With a handful of winners from both the flanks, aided by a wrong call in her favour, Sania broke KB to go up (3-2) The angle that she created on one of her backhand cross court winners was just mind boggling. She is damn good at this shot as well, not so much power in it, but there was no way KB could reach the ball.

Game 6: Sania, once again, let's the break she got slip out of her hand right away. She has a very weak second serve and both the points she got in this game were from the errors committed by KB. KB's backhand looked pretty powerful and it definitely is a big weapon in her arsenal. But for some intriguing reason, Sania kept hitting the ball back to her backhand and most of those points were won by KB. This game was no different.(3-3)

Game 7:A double fault from KB, followed by SSW# 3, followed by another beautifully crafted backhand winner fetched Sania 3 break points. Then she makes 2 consecutive unforced errors by going for big forehand winners when there was no room for any. Going for the first one makes a little bit of sense, because she has the cushion of 3 break point chances and taking the first one to unnerve the opponent makes perfect sense in a tactical way, but not when you blow off the first two. The sooner she realises this, the better it is for her. Anyway, she hits another out of the world winner in the form of a backhand cross court whose angle would put Euclid to shame(4-3). I have never seen anything written about this shot of Sania and she surprised me time and again with such a clinical perfection in executing it. I am not exaggerating when I say the angles she creates with that shot (backhand cross court) are next only to Roger Federer. Yes folks, barring Federer I have not see any other player, men or women, play that shot with such an authority. True, she was playing someone close to 200 in the rank, but I think KB is much better a player than her current ranking suggests. If Sania can get this shot to work against the big guns, this may very well become her weapon# 2 to in addition to her "fearful forehand".

Game 8:With a service winner and 3 consecutive SSWs (#4,#5 & #6), Sania held and took the score to (5-3)

Game 9:Sania played this game pretty aggressively and made her intentions clear to win it and close out the set. Her movement was much better in this game, which saw her hit SSW# 7 and also make 2 very impressive retrievals. But KB was bold enough and pretty much in control throughout to keep herself alive in the set (5-4)

Game 10:SSW#8 followed by 3 service winners enabled Sania to pocket the set. (6-4)

2nd Set

Game 1: KB won the game at love. (0-1)

Game 2: Sania maintained her authority by holding at love, but not without her signature in the form of SSW# 9. (1-1)

Game 3: With the aid of SSW# 10, Sania managed to win only one point in this game. But the worst thing is, she lost all 4 points on unforced errors. She shouldn't be awarding these many free points to her opponents, whatever the situation may be. Most of the errors in this game were due to the fact that she is not giving enough room for herself to hit those shots. For instance, when she gets a ball to her forehand side she doesn't move to her left to make enough room to unleash her forehand, but plays that shot regardless. Esepcially her lateral movement leaves a lot to be desired. (1-2)

Game 4: Sania finally stops feeding KB on to her impressive backhand. She dictated most of this game and won it at 30....SSW#11 and another Federer like backhand cross court winner included.(2-2)

Game 5: KB started to dominate her service games also and was managing to hold them with ease. An unforced error from Sania followed by a couple of service winners got the scores to 40-0. Sania hit an impressive drop shot when KB was way back and well beyond the baseline, but she raced towards it and hit a winner by reaching the ball which was just a millimeter or so short of dropping to the ground. (2-3)

Game 6: This was the first game of the second set that saw a Deuce on either players' serve. Sania managed to hold with winners that included SSW# 12 & #13, and 2 backhand crosscourt winners, one of them being a beauty to watch. (3-3)

Game 7: By now both the players raised their games up by several notches. Neither was willing to give an advantage to the opponent, but amidst all the unforced errors, Sania kept hitting winners on both the flanks and that slightly gave her an upperhand. Perhaps, that upperhand of Sania subtly crept into the mind of KB as she started playing an error prone game. In the few points that she managed to keep herself in, Sania pulled another SSW (#14) and one more of those backhand cross court winners. I am damn surprised that this shot of hers is not being made a big deal of. Sandeep, Gigado..what do you think?(4-3)

Game 8: With a break in Sania's kitty, this was to be a very crucial game for both the players, more so for Sania if she wanted to serve for the match on her next service game. But KB had other thoughts. Credit to her, She brought a lot of intensity to her game. On the first point, KB hit a big backhand down the line. Sania made a great retrieval only to see KB finish the point in a volley winner (0-15). Sania hit a huge forehand, but KB sent it duly back. This was very much unexpected and Sania approached the net for the only time in the entire match, tried a sloppy dropshot that hit the net (0-30). Time for SSW# 15 (15-30). But once again, she tried for a winner, a big FH, and tried it without giving herself enough room (15-40). Backed up her weak second serve with a big backhand down the line winner (30-40). An ace followed duly (DEUCE). Winner from KB, a back hand cross court (Ad-KB). An unforced error from KB got the scores back to Deuce. KB unleashed a big forehand cross court to catch Sania off her feet (Ad-KB). KB attacked Sania's weak 2nd serve and hit a forehand down the line winner to even the score (4-4) This game was a big psychological win for KB. This was the game that Sania should have played safe to give herself a fair chance to close out the match. Of course, KB should get credit for winning this, but Sania should also be blamed for being overly aggressive to the extent of squandering the advantage at the very wrong moment.

Game 9: KB opened the game with a service winner. On the next point, which was to be the Point of the match, KB played deep towards Sania's backhand and Sania ran towards it and hit an impossible backhand crosscourt angle. It was such an amazing shot that it left even Sania drop her jaw in disbelief. Guys, do you know what I am talking about? With all the talk about her forced forehand (yes, I agree it truly deserves that attention and respect), I would pick this to be my favorite to see Sania playing. This got to be right up there, along with her forehand. You have to see it to believe it. But Sania faltered again by going for too much (well, she had to go for a break in this game) in the form of a couple of unforced errors and KB did the rest to hold on. (4-5)

Game 10: SSW# 16 & #17 along with a service winner and another divine backhand crosscourt winner got the scores even in the set (5-5)

Game 11: On the first point, Sania hit a forehand that clearly went a few inches far off the baseline and wasn't called out. This was to be the second call that favoured Sania. KB realised it in time, but kept playing and lost the point (0-15). I am surprised that she didn't protest or even talk to the referee. That bad call, perhaps, got into her mind and she double faulted (0-30). Sania had a clear advantage at this moment. She got the first couple of points, her opponent was not in a good mood. It was the right time for her to cash it on. Instead, she had chosen a wrong shot, a big forehad, that never existed(15-30). KB hit a winner on the next point, followed by another unforced error from Sania (40-30). She hit two consecutive SSWs, #18 & #19, to get a break point (Ad-SM), but went for another non-existent winner (Deuce). She repeated the same mistake twice in this game and as a result KB managed to hold on(5-6).

Game 12: As I mentioned at the beginning, there were about 60-70 Indians in the crowd. They were all cheering for Sania at the beginning of the match. But at this point, it looked as if everyone was living that moment, they were all tensed up and were really really quite. Now that Sania had to hold this game to force a tie-break, I thought of making some noise to pump up our girl. With my head down, checking my notes, I let out a big shout "Come on, Sania...." only to raise my head and see Sania toss her ball. She had to stop, as a result of me disturbing her. I felt terrible and embarassed :( But, hey I was only trying to keep up the tradition :). Anyway, along with SSW# 20, this game was one of the best ones in terms of Sania's court coverage. She moved extremely well and most of the points she got in this game were winners by her. On the second Advantage of hers, she retrieved a great return by KB and managed to catch her off-guard to put it back right on the baseline. (6-6)

Tie Breaker:
KB --> Sania hit an awesome forehand crosscourt winner (1-0).
SM--> Unforced error from KB (2-0)
SM--> Unforced error from Sania (2-1)
KB --> Double Fault (3-1)
KB --> On a weak second serve, Sania goes for a big forehand that had gone wide (3-2)
SM--> Service winner (4-2)
SM--> SSW# 21 (5-2)
KB --> Unforced error from KB (6-2)
KB --> Another improbably angled backhand crosscourt winner from Sania (7-2) !!!

Here are some match statistics:
1st Set
Total Points: 59
Points won by Sania: 33
Points won by KB: 26
Sania's 1st serves: 16/23 (69.56%)
Points won on 1st serve: 11/16 (68.75%0
Points won on 2nd serve: 3/7 (42.85%)
Aces: 1
Double Faults: 1

2nd Set
Total Points: 92
Points won by Sania: 47
Points won by KB: 45
Sania's 1st serves: 33/48 (68.75%)
Points won on 1st serve: 20/33 (60.60%0
Points won on 2nd serve: 10/15 (66.66%)
Aces: 1
Double Faults: 2

Well, there is no need to reiterate on how big her forehand is. It has everything in the world to match up with the best. Believe it or not, she has an amazing backhand too. Granted, she wouldn't have the same kind of luxury to play those angles when she is pitted against the likes of Davenport, Willimases et al. But her top 100 experience is still in its primitive days and given a few months, I am sure she will get used to playing them and getting to know how to use her big weapons against them. Regardless, her speed has to improve a lot and she has to control her aggression. She can't afford to award all those free points the way she does. And her serve, that is no where near top 30, IMO. Her second serve is even weaker. If not at will, she breaks her opponents quite comfortably, but then falters at holding her own. This aspect has to be taken care of as soon as possible. I am sure Sania and Ferrington are working towards it and I hope to see some results in the near future.

Good luck for the main draw, Sania.

- Varma

[krinix]

Hi
varma boy.
Great Report that.
For a moment, i felt i was on court, watching the match.
I was visualizing it, coz the report was brilliant.
Just like a Script from a classic Bollywood movie.
She played it well, and you put it up well.

Thanks.
KRINIX

[jayakris]

And lest I forget - kudos on another classic, Varma -- "an angle that would put Euclid to shame" !!!!!! Jay

[gbelday]

Great job Varma. Thanks for a real detailed report. It feels like I am right there watching the game You are scaring the rest of us by setting such high standards

[kishorJ]

i think we saw many such backhand crosscourt rallies with morigami at wimbledon when both were hitting these incredible angles.

[manisethu]

Dear Mr.Varma u need to get the best reporter award from tennisindia.org and our boss Mr.Jay needs to do the need full. any votes for Mr.Varma.

[Kumar]

Varma how do you manage to get so much details into your report? You are a wizard.. Everyday u are setting the bar very high, which will be difficult for others to match!!!

[atulra]

That was a fantastic report by Mr. Verma, thanks a lot.

I should admit that at this point of time, Sania Mirza's surge in rankings and her achievements facinate me the most than any thing in Indian Tennis right now.

LP OR mb are not making any waves currently.

Sania should continue her surge to come up in he rankings and achieve more

[atulra]

Sania should play with the aim of improving her rankings constantly with maximum wins.

[kishorJ]

since the last few hours i am not able to connect to the accura classic site. has anybody else faced the same problem?

[jayakris]

.. but then again, part of the reluctance on the part of Indian tennis experts and media to boldly predict greatness for Sania earlier on, was probably because of the general feeling that we have seen too many juniors hyped up to be the next big thing, who did not make it anywhere ..

Jay

[nkoth]

Tuesday order of play has been released, and Sania is on at 11am local time.

Court 2 (from 11.00hrs)
1. Mirza vs. Garbin

[jayakris]

I am amazed that they keep shunting Sania out to the piddly minor courts. Somebody in the WTA office out there is out of touch, looked at the Q-vs-Q match-up and said, ok, the small court. Only one singles match and two doubles matches scheduled on that court.

But this is good. The Indian crowd can make a lot of noise and pump her up.

I expect to drive down in the morning..

Jay

[completelyconked]

she hits another out of the world winner in the form of a backhand cross court whose angle would put Euclid to shame(4-3). I have never seen anything written about this shot of Sania and she surprised me time and again with such a clinical perfection in executing it. I am not exaggerating when I say the angles she creates with that shot (backhand cross court) are next only to Roger Federer. Yes folks, barring Federer I have not see any other player, men or women, play that shot with such an authority.

Thanks for taking the time to write that terrific report Varma
I told you guys she has the best groundies in the world.Not only are they more powerful than most of the men,but the angles she creates are unbelievable .I did say during wimbledon that the backhand had become almost as lethal as the forehand.She was creating some amazing sharapova-esque angles.Maybe i should take that back and say Federer-esque I'd hardly call her backhand just adequate anymore.Enough has been said about the forehand,undoubtably the best in the world.But as you say she is far too aggressive .However she's young and inexperienced,and she will learn with time, and a few on-court whippings .Hopefully Farrington will be able to rein her in and get her to be more patient.Once she learns to use those amazing weapons properly she'll get far more consistent results. Some really hard work on the fitness and serve,and if they click she'll be unstoppable .

[Varma]

I am amazed that they keep shunting Sania out to the piddly minor courts. Somebody in the WTA office out there is out of touch, looked at the Q-vs-Q match-up and said, ok, the small court. Only one singles match and two doubles matches scheduled on that court.

But this is good. The Indian crowd can make a lot of noise and pump her up.

I expect to drive down in the morning..

Jay

That's pretty pathetic scheduling. But you are right, Jay. Someone must have seen it as just another match between two qualifiers. Hopefully she wins this one and they realize how big a star she is and put her on the centre court for the subsequent ones.

Anyway, I am glad you are going that way, Jay. I won't be able to make it as I will be travelling to Dallas for the next 3 days. I hope and pray that she makes it to the third round to give myself another chance to see her in this tourney.

Good luck, Sania. Keep going !!!

- Varma