Maria ends Sania’s run

Sania Mirza stung Russian topseed Maria Sharapova into life at the US Open on Sunday.Having cruised through the first three rounds, Sharapov...

Sania Mirza stung Russian topseed Maria Sharapova into life at the US Open on Sunday.

Having cruised through the first three rounds, Sharapova needed her best tennis to contain the hard-hitting Indian before eventually overwhelming her 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

Mirza is probably the only women’s tennis player who can rival Sharapova’s global marketing potential thanks to her enormous Indian fanbase and she also has a forehand of Sharapova-like proportions.

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The Russian was at times out-hit by fellow 18-year-old Mirza in the first set but the error count of the first Indian woman to reach a Grand Slam fourth round proved to be her undoing.

“I’m playing pretty well,” said Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion. “I know it’s going to get tougher and tougher from here.”

Mirza said: “There were a lot of games that I could have taken but I had fun out there. In my first US Open I couldn’t have asked for any more.”

Sharapova will play compatriot and ninth seed Nadia Petrova in the last eight, a repeat of their Wimbledon quarter-final this year which Sharapova won in straight sets.

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“She is very similar to Sania, with a big serve and a big game. I’ll have to be ready,” said Sharapova. Said the 18-year-old Indian who enjoyed boisterous support from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. “This is my career highlight. Getting to the fourth round in my first year in the US Open and first year on the tour.”

Against Sharapova, Mirza traded crunching groundstrokes but was gradually outgunned and undermined by an inconsistent serve.

Mirza said she had enjoyed the match and did not regret her tactic of trying to slug it out with the Russian. “I’m going to win matches by hitting winners,” she said. “I enjoy hitting the ball as hard as I can and I enjoy taking risks. I enjoyed every minute out there.”

“I don’t think I was nervous, not even a little bit. I wasn’t intimidated.”

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Sharapova, the 18-year-old 2004 Wimbledon champion, complimented Mirza. “She’s very young and has a great future ahead of her. She has a very big game,” she said.

Mirza, who will play next in Bali and Kolkata, said she wanted to improve her fitness and serve.

The Paper Trail

		‘Sania may evolve into female Imran’ It sure sounded as if Sania Mirza and Maria Sharapova were pounding the sweat out of each other. It sure seemed like they were hitting the ball so hard, tendons could snap in their wrists and they wouldn’t even notice. The New York crowd, always keen for an upset, warmed quickly to Mirza, the feisty Indian girl with the ring in her nose and teen angst ’tude. Even as Mirza slapped her shots with wild abandon on nearly every point, she was stealing attention from Sharapova, the sultry Russian whose game is even more interesting than her looks. This must have been slightly strange for Sharapova, hearing the crowd turn against her, razz her, beseech her opponent to keep gambling. In the end, Sharapova took apart Mirza, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals, but it was Mirza who walked into the afternoon looking like she had carved out a tiny corner of the future. You wonder if the collision of cultures won’t eventually bring her down, but then you witness her confidence and cheekiness and think she just might be a moderate female version of Imran Khan, the cricketer turned politician. —LISA OLSON / New York Daily News ‘Indian ingenue no match for Maria’ Lacklustre as the Williams-Williams match became, it was far more interesting than yet another Maria Sharapova dusting. Sharapova, matched against the Indian ingenue Sania Mirza, had little trouble defusing her opponent’s forehand, taking out the fellow teen, 6-2, 6-1. “I think I started off really well from the first match,” Sharapova said. “I was really ready. It was a bit unexpected because I didn’t play a lot of matches coming into the tournament, so I thought I would be a little rusty at the beginning.” She wasn’t. She hasn’t been. Sharapova, who needed only 16 winners to remove Mirza, has dropped just 12 games in her four matches so far in New York. Not one opponent has mounted any sort of challenge. —AMALIE BENJAMIN / The Boston Globe ‘Hard-hitting Mirza enjoyed herself’ Top-seeded Maria Sharapova cruised past Sania Mirza of India, 6-2, 6-1. Hard-hitting Mirza thoroughly enjoyed herself on the U.S. Open’s center court but was undone by Sharapova’s precision and her own weak second serve. —LIZ CLARKE / The Washington Post