Sania Mirza upsets Anne Keothavong in round two – Pattaya Open 2012
Indian tennis ace, Sania Mirza, flabbergasted everyone by registering an upset against the eleventh seed Briton, Anne Keothavong, in the second round of the Pattaya Open, contested in Thailand. She powered down her opponent in
an hour and 39 minutes with the cumulative scores of 6-4, 7-5.
Considering that Mirza is ranked seventh in the doubles category, this upset was expected by most of the analysts. Previously the head-to-head scores were tied at one win apiece with Mirza winning the latter encounter in AEGON
Classic, three years back. The Briton had won Bank of the West Classis clash back in 2008.
Interestingly it was the Briton who was expected to pull upsets, as she defeated the second seed Dominika Cibulkova in the opening round. Mirza turned the tables upon her and showed her the exits on Thursday. It was the first win
for the Indian after losing five straight single matches in a row.
First set witnessed Mirza bamboozling her opponent with her guile and cruising in with a lead of two games at the start. The Briton found herself down to three games but she fought back and bagged three successive games to diminish
the trail. Both players had earned a single breakthrough at that stage and the scores were level at 3-3.
Mirza was looking threatening with her serves. She continued to capitalize strongly on her serve games and exerted pressure on her opponent. The Briton failed to response and lost another vital serve game that confirmed the first
set triumph for the Indian. Trailing one set down, the Briton was looking low on confidence despite a major upset under her belt.
The Indian started the second set with a successful serve; so did her opponent. The Briton stunned everyone by breaking her opponent’s serve, against the run of play, and registered a crucial lead. Mirza fought back immediately
and levelled the scores at 3-3; registering a pivotal breakthrough in the sixth game.
Mirza broke serve in the twelfth game to oust her opponent and step ahead and faces the winner of the match between Su-Wei Hsieh and Kimiko Date-Krumm.
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