Leg cramps fail to halt Sania's advance

Leg cramps fail to halt Sania's advance

INDIAN starlet Sania Mirza battled painful leg cramps to reach the third round of the US Open yesterday, matching her best performance to date in a Grand Slam event. The 18-year-old from Hyderabad defeated Italy's Elena Camerin 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in a roller-coaster of a women's singles match, and with France's Marion Bartoli to follow, she will harbour genuine hopes of reaching the last 16 and a likely encounter with top seed Maria Sharapova. But she will need to fully recover physically from what was a punishing second-round tie if is she is to better her breakthrough third-round performance at this year's Australian Open, where she eventually lost to Serena Williams. 'It was a very strange match and was very up and down,' said Mirza who is playing in her first US Open. 'It was very windy today; both of us were having problems. I was just trying to get my rhythm and she was playing some good tennis.' Mirza quickly sped into the lead behind her big serve and forehand, and she reached set point at 5-3 on her own serve. But she squandered that with a run of poor shots, culminating in a woeful forehand volley at the net that sailed long. That allowed Camerin to get back on serve, but the Indian powered down a series of big forehands to put the pressure back on, and she converted on her third set point when Camerin floated a forehand long. But the edginess Mirza had shown at the end of the first set continued to manifest itself at the start of the second as the Italian broke straight away for a 2-0 lead, and then showing more consistency, won four out of the next five games to level the tie. Camerin needed courtside treatment for an injury to her left leg, delaying the start of the decider, but on her return, she promptly held serve and then broke Mirza yet again to take a 2-0 lead. The fizz had gone out of Mirza's usual aggressive game, but she rallied in the next game to break to love and get back on serve at 2-2. A disputed line call gave the Indian break point in the next game, and despite clear signs that she was cramping in her legs, she converted it to go 3-2 up. That seemed to take the wind out of Camerin's sails, and with the crowd getting behind her, Mirza served well to go 4-2 up. She let two more break points to go 5-2 up slip through her grasp and, instead, paid the penalty as Camerin took advantage of her opponent's lack of mobility by breaking back and levelling at 4-4. But just when it looked like she had blown her chance, Mirza gave it one last go, and with Camerin struggling with her serve, Mirza first saved a game point and then broke instead to serve for the match. - AFP.