Sania brought the best out of Maria

For someone playing her first US Open and only her fourth Grand Slam, Sania Mirza couldn’t have done any better at Flushing Meadow. It took a Maria Sharapova to oust her with a performance befitting a Wimbledon champion.

That is where Sania’s credit lies. The 18-year-old from Hyderabad brought the best out of the top seed in the fourth-round clash on Sunday. The scoreline looks quite humiliating from Sania’s point of view, but anyone who watched the match knows it didn’t reflect the actual story.

Some of Sania’s forehands and double-handed backhands were absolutely lethal and left Sharapova clueless. Having broken back once, Sania had three chances to break back a second time as Sharapova served at 0-40. Two terrific serves put paid to the Indian’s hopes, and the Russian changed gears from that juncture.

For the first seven games in the match, Sania matched the tall Russian stroke for stroke. With a bit of luck, the Indian could well have stretched the opening set and who knows what would have happened!

Once Sharapova got into her groove, it was clear she belonged to a different league. She used a heavy serve which was not under threat but for a game or two.

She moved like a champion and looked very focused. Even though she hadn’t played Sania before, I got the feeling she came prepared for a tough match and raised her game a notch or three just when the Indian was starting to make some ominous noises with her groundstrokes.

And when she cornered Sania, Sharapova went for the kill so that she could beat her as convincingly as possible and hurt her confidence for future clashes. I remember (Ramanathan) Krishnan used to do this whenever he played Premjit (Lall) or me.

Sharapova is surely playing her best and I would be putting my money on her winning the women’s crown.

Where did Sania lose out in the final analysis? Two things, I would say. Her serve and mobility on court. As I had said the day before the match, Sania has to get her first serves in, otherwise she could be in big trouble. That’s precisely what happened. The six-footer jumped on the Indian’s second serves and put so much pressure that Sania crumbled and came up with far too many double-faults.

While serving, Sania throws the ball too high and a little too much to the right. As a result, she can’t put the entire bodyweight behind the ball.

Her movement on court has improved, but if she is to move to the top-10 level, Sania has to work on the fitness aspect a lot more. I think she needs to cut down on a few kgs.

She has a travelling coach now and the results have been pretty encouraging in the last month or so. She has a good advisors in Mahesh Bhupathi. What she needs immediately is a physical trainer.

What Sania doesn’t need to do is change her aggressive style. Just because she has made loads of unforced errors doesn’t mean she should get defensive and play percentage tennis. That will come with age and experience.