HYDERABAD, India, 13 February 2005 — Sania Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA title when she defeated Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the final of the Hyderabad Open here yesterday.
Sania kept her cool in front of a boisterous home crowd to beat her ninth seeded opponent, who was also gunning for her maiden WTA crown. The 18-year-old thus continued her fine run after having made the third round of the recent Australian Open, the only time an Indian woman has got past two rounds of a Grand Slam event.
Nerves seemed to get the better of Sania at the start of the match as she double-faulted three times to allow Bondarenko to go 2-0 up, but the Ukrainian could not hold on in the face of some probing returns of serve.
Melzer Upsets Agassi, Roddick Reaches Semis in San Jose
Andre Agassi’s bid for a record sixth San Jose Open title ended in a 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinal defeat to Austria’s Juergen Melzer on Friday. Andy Roddick survived a scare against Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist to win 3-6, 7-6 7-5. Melzer employed a combination of well-timed drop shots and solid groundstrokes to keep Agassi off balance throughout the match. Cyril Saulnier won 6-2, 6-4 against American Vince Spadea. Tommy Haas beat Max Mirnyi 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 in a two-hour, 10-minute affair.
Mauresmo to Meet Safina in Paris Final
In Paris, second seed Amelie Mauresmo of France set up a meeting with unseeded Russian Dinara Safina in the final of the $585,000 Paris Indoor Open yesterday.
Mauresmo, the 2001 champion, eased past fourth seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 7-5, 6-3 in 1hr 51min as Safina battled fellow teen Tatiana Golovin of France to become the first Russian finalist of the event.
Eighteen-year-old Safina, sister of Australian Open champion Marat Safin, came away a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) victor after 2hr 21min to achieve her first win in three meetings with 17-year-old Golovin.
