Sania needs to reach semis to meet Hingis

SPORT SANIA DRAW PRINT EMAIL
Sania needs to reach semis to meet Hingis

KOLKATA, SEP 16 (PTI)

A possible mouthwatering clash between Indian ace Sania Mirza and world No 9 Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the USD 175,000 WTA Sunfeast Open will have to wait till the semifinal stage.

Sania, seeded fifth, has got an easy opening round outing against a qualifier while top-seeded Hingis would be up against world number 84 Melinda Czink of Hungary, as per the draw of lots for the main tournament, which begins on Monday.

Czink, who had taken the fizz out of the Sunfeast Open last year by conquering crowd favourite Sania in the second round, has been in good form of late and could pose a few problems for title favourite Hingis.

Sania, whose ranking has plummeted to 70 after a series of lacklustre shows, would face the winner of the first round battle between Russian Galina Voskoboeva and Sandra Kloesel of Germany if she gets past the first round.

If the Hyderabadi crosses the hurdle, she could come up against fourth seed French girl Aravane Rezai, who crosses sword with Indian wild card Ankita Bhambri in the lung-opener.

In case Sania pulls off an upset of sorts and Hingis does justice to her reputation, the two could engage in a duel at the pre-summit stage of the tournament.

Among other Indians, 194-ranked Shikha Uberoi, who has got a wild card, face 132-ranked Czech girl Hana Sromova in the first round.

The other wild card entrant, US-born player of Indian origin Sunitha Rao, has a tough opener as she would be up against seventh seed Nicole Pratt of Australia.

Second seed and world No. 50 Croat Karolina Sprem has been drawn against Australian Casey Dellacqua, while third seed Yuliana Fedak of Australia takes on Italian Alberta Brianti in the first round.

Other first round duels include sixth seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia versus Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn and eighth seed Russian Anastassia Rodionova versus compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva.