Mirza bows out of New Delhi

Sania Mirza’s Delhi dream comes crashing down as she loses 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3) to Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.

NEW DEHLI: Indian star Sania Mirza’s Delhi dream came crashing down when she lost 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/3) to Anastasia Rodionova of Australia in the first-ever Commonwealth Games tennis final.

Mirza had been bent on becoming the first tennis champion of the Games in front of her adoring home fans, but she met her match in top-seeded Rodionova.

“I think what’s important is that I gave my best but I fell a bit short. It was an honor for me to be playing for my country,’’ said Mirza, the world 137th.

Similar to the semi-final, Mirza clawed her way back from losing the first set and she stood a break up at 2-1 in the decider before the Russian-born Rodionova broke back to level. The Australian served for the match at 5-3 but was broken to 30 with the crowd wildly cheering on every fault.

Mirza saved a match point in the following game before levelling the scores and taking the final into a dramatic tie-break. Rodionova led from the start in that and the stadium went silent when Mirza double-faulted on the fourth match point against her.

Earlier, the second-seed had defeated Olivia Rogowska from Australia 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-final, eighth-seed Marina Erakovic from New Zealand 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals, and Brittany Teei 6-0, 6-2 in the second round and got a bye in the first.

After her first-round exits from the US Open, the Commonwealth Games have been Mirza’s best performance recently.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2010.