Sania ousted from Wimbledon singles, loses tough first round

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza lost a tight three setter to 28-year old Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano in the first round of Wimbledon.Razzano, a 12-year pro on the WTA circuit is a former top 20 player who mad the fourth round here on her last visit to SW19 in 2009.Mirza had her chances in the first set having served for it at 5-4 before losing it in a tiebreak.Sania raced through the second 6-2 in just 37 minutes,but was no match for the skill of the veteran in the final set as she capitulated to a 7-6(4),2-6,6-3 defeat.As her reward Razzano will next face the winner of the match between world no.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain.The opening set had some enormous momentum swings with Mirza jumping to a 3-0 lead with a double break courtesy of a slew of unforced errors from the notoriously slow starting Frenchwoman.Razzano broke back though immediately to keep her interest alive in the set and get herself on the board.The next five games all went with the server leaving Mirza the opportunity to serve for the set at 5-4.Sadly,Sania's serve let her down when the moment of truth arrived as Razzano earned two break points,eventually needing just the one to draw level at 5-5 in the opening set.Normal business resumed thereafter with the women settling for a tiebreak to decide their fortunes.The opening 9 points of the breaker also went with serve,leaving Mirza with two serves to follow at 4-5 to decide her fate.Once again though a couple of indifferent points,one a winner from Razzano and the other an unforced error from Sania saw the Frenchwoman steal the set 7-4 despite having been behind for the lion's share of it.Credit to the young Indian though as she came out all guns blazing in the second set putting the disappointment of losing the first set behind her very quickly.Mirza saved a couple of break points in the opening game before taking her first chance on the Razzano serve to sneak ahead 2-0.The games continued to be close over the rest of the set with Mirza keeping her nose in front by holding serve despite some inconsistent bouts of Razzano pressure.Razzano served to stay in the set at 2-5 and duly broken a second time as Mirza closed out the set 6-2.The second set stats made remarkable reading with Mirza winning just 9 points on the Razzano serve all set,but amazingly putting 8 of them together to break serve twice.The Indian helped her own cause by landing a high percentage of first serves which crucially allowed her to get through the set without dropping serve.The final set saw a complete transformation in play with Razzano suddenly becoming the more aggresive player racing through her opening three service games for the loss of only three points while heaping tons of pressure on the Mirza serve.It all came to fruition in the crucial 7th game which turned out to be not just an instant classic but also the decisive moment in the contest.Despite saving a host of break points,Sania finally dropped serve for 3-4.Razzano crucially conssolidated the break with a hold to love before ensuring that she would not need to serve for the match by squeezing out the contest on the Mirza serve.Mirza will now turn her attention to the women's doubles where she teams up with Elena Vesnina of Russia to take on the American-Russian pairing of Melanie Oudin and Anna Chakvetadze in the first round.Mirza and Vesnina finished runners-up in the Final of the French Open last month.Later today,India's no.1 male tennis player Somdev Dewarman will make his Wimbledon main draw debut against Germany's Denis Gremelmayr.The pair have never met previously.
Final Score:
Virginie Razzano(FRA) d.Sania Mirza(IND) 76(4)26 63