Direct link to scholarships offered by  Govt. of India

List of Private NGOs offering scholarships

Abu Marwan Abdal Malik Ibn Zuhr: ‘Avenzoar’

Abu Marwan Abdal Malik Ibn Zuhr, known in the west as Avenzoar, was

Ummid Assistant

IRF invites applications for Education Scholarship

Welcome Guest! You are here: Home » Sports

Sania Mirza first Indian to reach women's doubles Grand Slam final

Thursday June 02, 2011 05:07:59 PM, IANS

Paris: Sania Mirza created history by becoming the first Indian woman to enter a Grand Slam doubles final.

Sania, who lifted a Grand Slam title when she won the mixed doubles with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi at the Australian Open in 2009 after losing the final the previous year, is in the midst of her best year on the Tour.

From a career-best ranking of 27 in 2007, Sania went hurtling down to 141 at the start of the year after a series of injuries in the last two years.

It was a hard grind for Sania who had to qualify for even second-tier Tour events. She received a wildcard at both the Dubai and Qatar Open and the turnaround came when she won three matches to qualify for the main draw at the season's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open.

Sania not only improved her singles ranking steadily to 72 before she came to Paris but she also made rapid progress in the doubles with Russian Elena Vesnina. The two women came together at the Qatar Open and quickly established themselves as a potent doubles combination.

Sania and Vesnina were seeded seventh here. Their 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, upset win over fourth seeds American Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond was preceded by their stunner against top seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pannetta at Stade Roland Garros.

The 37-year-old Raymond is a former French Open doubles champion and her partner Huber has won four Grand Slam doubles titles with Zimbabwean Cara Black, but she doesn't have French Open title to her credit yet.

Sania and Vesnina played some brilliant tennis to 4-1 up in the first set and in 30 minutes they were a set up. However, a stream of errors saw them lose the second set. Both the players came back strongly in the decider and Elena served out the set and the match.

The Indo-Russian pair play Czechs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the Friday's final, with the winning team splitting $475,000 prize money.

The unseeded Czech pair shocked third-seeded Vania King of the US and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3. King, a former partner of Sania, and Shvedova are the reigning US Open and Wimbledon Champions.

Sania and Elena, who won titles at Indian Wells and Charleston, hold a 20-4 record. Until Wednesday, they had not dropped a set in the tournament.

The two finalists have met once before, with Sania and Elena winning in straight sets in the first round at Indian Wells. Vesnina is the only one of the four finalists to play in a Grand Slam women's doubles final, having been runner-up at the 2009 French Open alongside Victoria Azarenka and in 2010 Wimbledon alongside Vera Zvonareva.

Hlavackova and Hradecka are the second unseeded French Open finalists in 30 years, the others being the 2008 runners-up Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone. If they win Friday, they would be the sixth unseeded team to capture a major in three decades.





 


 

 

  Bookmark and Share                                          Home | Top of the Page

Comments

Note: By posting your comments here you agree to the terms and conditions of www.ummid.com

Comments powered by DISQUS

 

 

 

Top Stories

PM directs safety upgrades at all nuclear facilities

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday reviewed India's disaster preparedness and   »

Shutdown in Ratnagiri to protest killing, some violence

Gujarat villagers vow to oppose Bhavnagar nuclear plant

Shutdown in Andhra town against power plant

 

  Most Read

Towards a riot free India

India has been subject to communal violence right from the first Post Partition riot of 1961 in Jabalpur. Later one saw the intensification of this violence in the decade  »

Communal Violence Bill: Let the dogs bark as the caravan goes

Srinagar to host conference on Interest-free Institutional Mechanism

A three-day International Conference on "Interest-free Institutional Mechanism (Banking, Finance and Insurance) for Promoting Investment" is being organized from June 3 to 5 at University of Kashmir in Srinagar. The International Conference is being held under  »

 

  News Pick

Maharashtra raises minimum age for alcohol consumption

In an attempt to discourage youngsters from consuming alcohol, the Maharashtra government Wednesday raised the minimum age for drinking   »

Hike in drinking age a gimmick, say Mumbai youngsters

Muslims' contribution to the growth of music in India

Music continued to flourish in medieval India in spite of the acquisition of political power by the Turks, Afghans and Mughals. It was patronized and thrived at the imperial courts of Muslim kings »

Corrupt officer or innocent? The jury is divided

The man alleged to be one of India's richest and most corrupt bureaucrats is not only still in service with the Chhattisgarh government but insists he is innocent.  »

Chhattisgarh in no hurry to punish corrupt IAS officer

Inadequate, say health activists of new anti-tobacco warnings

They say a picture is worth a thousands words. But if the opinion of health activists - and many youngsters - is anything to go by, the new set of pictorial warnings for tobacco products are not enough to deter those  »

Anger grows over Pakistani journalist's murder

Twitter is abuzz with the brutal murder of Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, with  »

Abducted Pakistani journalist tortured, killed: Official

 

Picture of the Day

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing the Joint Session of Ethiopian Parliament, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 26, 2011.

 

 
 
 
 
 

RSS  |  Contact us

| Quick links

News

 

Subscribe to

Ummid Assistant

 

National

Religion

RSS

Scholarships

About us

International

Culture

Twitter

Government Schemes

Feedback

Regional

History

Facebook

Education

Register

Politics

Opinion

Newsletter

Contact us

Business

Career

     

Education

       

 

 

Ummid.com: Disclaimer | Terms of Use | Advertise with us | Link Exchange

Ummid.com is part of the Awaz Multimedia & Publications providing World News, News Analysis and Feature Articles on Education, Health. Politics, Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Industry etc. The articles or the views displayed on this website are for public information and in no way describe the editorial views. The users are entitled to use this site subject to the terms and conditions mentioned.

© 2010 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.