Sunfeast: Sania leads galaxy of stars

The WTA Sunfeast Open will commence at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkatta on Monday with crowd favourite Sania Mirza and top seed Anastasia Myskina in two halves of the draw. The meet will showcase a galaxy of stars, including 11 of the top 100 players in WTA rankings. While the City is gearing up to witness some high-voltage tennis from the likes of world number 13 Anastasia Myskina, Karolina Sprem, Elena Likhovtseva, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Virginia Ruano Pascual, Sania Mirza, expectedly, will be the darling of the crowd as the teen sensation goes all out to improve her ranking. The Florida-based Uberoi sisters, Shikha and Neha, would be looking forward to an impressive show, while another US-born Indian Sunitha Rao hopes to strengthen her case of representing India in the Federation Cup. “It was great to play the fourth round of the US Open. “I’m feeling very good and confident about my game,” Sania said when asked about her level of confidence going into the Tier III tournament. She said she was looking forward to playing at home after 7-8 months and was hopeful of winning her second WTA tournament. “I’m going to do my best. I won in Hyderabad, but it doesn’t mean I can win this tournament too. “It’s a tougher one. I just have to go out there and play my game,” she said. Sania has a relatively easy draw in the first round against a qualifier whose name would be known on Sunday at the end of the qualifying tournament that started on Saturday. Eighteen-year old Sania, who is seeded third, could face the winner of the opening round match between Argentina’s Ma Emilia Salerni and Hungarian Melinda Czink in the second round. Both are way below the Indian WTA rankings. While Sania occupies the 34th slot, Salerni is ranked 103 and Czink 121. If the results go according to the seedings, Sania, India’s main hope in the event, could run into second seed Elena Likhovtseva of Russia in the semi-final. Likhovtseva, 16th in WTA rankings, faces Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine(134th) in her opening match. Shikha Uberoi, ranked 151, also begins her campaign against her practising partner, Japan’s Ryoko Fuda (185). Another interesting opening round fixture will see Shikha’s younger sister Neha, a wild card, takes on Sunitha Rao, an American of Indian origin. Top seed and world number 13 Anastasia Myskina clashes with unseeded Edine Gallovtis of Romania in the first round. In the second round, she could meet compatriot Galina Voskoboeva (ranked 130) or Victoria Azarenka (203) of Argentina. In the quarters, she could meet either fourth seed Maria Elena Camerin of Italy or Rika Fujiwara of Japan, seeded eighth. Other well-known players in the event are Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti, Laura Pous Tio from Spain and Japan’s Rika Fujiwara. Sunfeast Open has a prize money of USD170,000 and boasts of a field of 32 players for both singles and doubles.