Sania Mirza nursing wrist trouble ahead of U.S. Open

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - Indian tennis player Sania Mirza has received acupuncture treatment on a painful right wrist to be ready for the U.S. Open starting on Monday, local media reported on Friday.

The 22-year-old, who reached the U.S. Open fourth round in 2005 and the third round in 2007, underwent wrist surgery in April last year but was sidelined from the New York event after the problem flared up during the preceding Beijing Olympics.

Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA tour event in 2005 and touched a world ranking of 27 two years ago, but has now slipped to 71 in the list.

She flew home to Hyderabad last week after the pain returned while playing in the U.S.

"I started feeling some pain on my right wrist in the semifinal in Vancouver (challenger)," Mirza told the Times of India. "It got worse with every match. I thought it would be better to get some treatment before the U.S. Open.

"I'm much better now, but not absolutely pain-free," she said. "I've had a good run of matches and I'm striking the ball well. Hopefully, the wrist will hold up."

Sania's campaign in US Open ends

Sania Mirza's campaign in the US Open ended on Sunday, as she and her partner Daniel Nestor were knocked out in the second round of the mixed doubles event.

Mirza and Nestor duo was outplayed by Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott of the USA, in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

The Indo-Canadian pair who were playing together for the first time in this tournament just didn't seem to find their feet and were broken twice in the first set.

Mirza and Nestor showed signs of improvement in the second set but just couldn't convert the one break point opportunity they had.

With this Mirza lost all the events in which she participated.

Meanwhile, 17-year old Indian, Yuki Bhambri entered the second round in the junior boys event.

He defeated American opponent Jordan Cox, 6-2, 6-1.

The junior world number one broke his rival twice in the first set and thrice in the second and only once he faced the threat of a break of serve.

He will next clash with Swiss Sandro Ehrat, who beat Patrik Brydolf 6-2, 6-4 in his first round clash.

Yuki is the favorite to win the junior title in New York having already won the Australian Open Juniors this year.

Sania Mirza & Francesca Schiavone Out Of US Open

The Indo-Italian women’s doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Francesca Schiavone crashed out of the US open. The pair lost their match to Gisela Dulko and Shahar Peer in the second round.

Gisela and Shahar defeated the Indo-Italian pair by 6-2, 1-6, 7-5.

Sania has already lost her singles event. Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated her in the second round .This is one of the worst defeats; Sania has faced in her career.

The Indians sole hope lies in the mixed doubles. She has teamed up with Canadian Daniel Nestor.The duo outplayed Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Ashley Fisher of Australia in their first round encounter at the mixed doubles. They crushed out the Uzbek-Australian pair in straight sets by 6-3, 6-1.

In other matches India’s Mahesh Bhupathi with his mixed doubles partner Liezel Huber made it into the second round defeating Vania King and Marcelo Melo by 7-5, 6-0.

Bhupati and Huber will next play against Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac in the second round.

Sania fails to make main draw at Rogers Cup

TORONTO: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza couldn't make it to the main draw of the high-profile $2 million Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament, Sania Mirza failing to clear the second and final qualifying round.

She was beaten by local girl Heidi El Tabakh, 1-6, 6-3, 4-6 on Sunday.

In a 56-player main draw, 44 were given direct entries, including the world's top 16 players.

Sania, who was 121 rungs above the Canadian in the world rankings at 74, had a tough time in the first qualifying round as well.

She struggled to win the first round against another Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier Saturday, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Thee Indian began the second round by losing the first set tamely. She regained her poise somewhat in the second, though she had problems holding her serve.

Despite being broken twice, she managed to make it a set-all, only because she could attack the Canadian's weak second serve. In the decider, she had ample opportunities to sail through but she could not clinch any of the five break points she forced whereas the local girl capitalised on the one break point she had to make her first WTA Tour event main draw after two hours of struggle.

El Tabakh El of Oakville, Ontario, defeated top-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round.

"I'm very satisfied," said El Tabakh, 22. "I did a lot better than I thought I would coming into the tournament. I knew (my opponents) were better ranked than I am so I had nothing to lose and I just went for it."

The other remaining Canadian in the qualifying draw, Sharon Fichman of Toronto, fell to Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-2.

Also through to the main draw are seasoned campaigners Julie Coin, Maria Kirilenko, and Maria Rybarikova.

Sania will play in the doubles with her new partner Francesca Schiavone of Italy and their first-round opponents are Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.

Prakash Amritraj beaten, Sania Mirza in second round

It was a mixed day for the Indians at Vancouver as Prakash Amritraj crashed out of the $175,000 Oldum Brown VanOpen at the hands of former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis rather tamely in straight sets 6-4, 6-1. Keeping the Indian flag flying high is top seed Sania Mirza, who was made to work hard by American qualifier Mallory Cecil before prevailing 6-4, 7-5.

Baghdatis, on the comeback trail, raced to a 3-1 lead in the opening set, and coasted through the rest of it to wrap it up 6-4. He then broke Amritraj in the Indian's opening service game in the second, to pull ahead 2-0. Amritraj held serve just once more in the match as the Cypriot closed out the tie with relative ease.

Amritraj's defeat ends the challenge of the Indian men at Vancouver after all three Indians involved in the men's doubles crashed out on Tuesday. Amritaj and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were soundly beaten, as were Stephen Amritraj and Harsh Mankad, playing with their respective partners (read more).

Local lad Vancouver's Philip Bester advanced to the third round with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 upset win over fifth seed Ryan Sweeting of the United States. Also entering round 3 is Ukranian Sergei Bubka who beat eighth-seed Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 3-6, 7-6.

In some delayed first round action, Ste-Foy, Quebec's Pierre-Ludovic Duclos upended sixth-seed Kevin Anderson 6-3, 4-6, 4-6 while Thornhill, Ontario's Peter Polansky fell 7-5, 6-2 to Xavier Malisse.

Sania Mirza's opponent in the second round of the Women's draw is two-time former VanOpen runner-up American Laura Granville. The veteran came through a tight three-setter against Aiko Nakamura when her opponent retired midway through the final set after falling and spraining her knee.

Joining them in the second round are five Canadians, led by Vancouver's Rebecca Marino who thrilled the hometown crowd with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over American Lindsay Lee-Waters under the lights on stadium court.

Select Results:

Men's Singles - Second Round
Philip Bester, North Vancouver d. Ryan Sweeting (5), United States 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
Sergei Bubka, Ukraine d. Marinko Matosevic (8), Australia 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5)
Marcos Baghdatis (3), Cyprus d. Prakash Amritraj, India 6-4, 6-1
Scoville Jenkins, United States vs. Alex Bogdanovic, Great Britain 6-4, 6-7(14), susp. darkness

Women's Singles - First Round
Anna Tatishvili, Georgia d. Valerie Tetreault (4), St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC 7-6(2), 6-1
Olivia Rogowska (8), Australia d. Katarena Paliivets, Richmond Hill, ON 7-5, 6-1
Laura Granville, United States d. Aiko Nakamura, Japan 2-6, 6-3, 3-4 ret. inj
Mashona Washington, United States d. Tetiana Luzhanska, Ukraine 6-1, 6-2
Heidi El Tabakh, Oakville, ON d. Laura Siegemund, Germany 6-2, 6-1
Sophie Ferguson (5), Australia d. Lilia Osterloh, United States 6-1, 7-5
Meng Yuan, China d. Jorgelina Cravero (7), Argentina 6-3, 6-3
Sania Mirza (1), India d. Mallory Cecil, United States 6-4, 7-5

Sania Mirza fails to win Vancuover Open

Vancuover: Indian Tennis sensation Sania Mirza failed to clinch her second ITF trophy in a row. The top seed Sania's dream run came to an end when Stephanie Dubois defeated her in the finals of the USD75,000 Vancuover Open.

The ace Indian tennis player went down to Dubois after winning first set. Sania lost 6-1, 4-6, 4-6 against a gritty Stephanie.

Stephanie Dubois showed a remarkable comeback after being blown away by Sania in the opening set.