Mahesh keeps mum on Sania's Bali loss

KOLKATA, Sep 15: Sania's Mirza's first-round exit at the Bali WTA meet earlier this week, wasn't exactly the type of advertisement that the Sunfeast Open, to be played here from Monday, needed. Sania's 'high' at the US Open, was followed by the Bali 'low'. Losing in straight sets to Russian Katerina Bychkova, who is ranked in the 90s, was definitely not what Kolkata fans were bargaining for.

However, Mahesh Bhupathi does not think this 'failure' will adversely affect Sania's popularity or the hype that the tournament has managed to generate. "I don't think Sania's Bali defeat is going to affect the Sunfeast Open at all," Bhupathi, also the chief of Globosport, which is organising the meet, said on Thursday.

"After all, Sania is not going to win everything that she plays. There will always be the odd early loss. I am sure the Kolkata event is not going to suffer because of it."

Sania's Fed Cup coach Enrico Piperno too didn't think her loss to Bychkova will have any bearing on next week's tournament.