Mirza magic in Cincinnati

Third seeded Sania Mirza made short work of Olga Govortsova of Belarus to book her first-ever singles semi-final berth at the $175,000 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament here yesterday.

Third seeded Sania Mirza made short work of Olga Govortsova of Belarus to book her first-ever singles semi-final berth at the $175,000 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament here yesterday.

Sania, who was eliminated in the quarter finals of the last two editions of the event, thrashed Govortsova 6-1, 6-1 in just 51 minutes in the last eight stage match of the WTA Tier III tournament.

The Indian star faces world number eight and top seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia, who is playing in the tournament for the first time, but said the win had given her much-needed confidence ahead of the challenging semi-final.

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“You want to win at any stage of the tournament, but it (the score 6-1, 6-1) does give you extra confidence. You’re in the quarter finals, so you’re playing the best eight, and you get an easy win,” the 20-year-old said.

Bopanna on track for double

New Delhi: Rohan Bop-anna stormed into the singles semi-finals after shocking Pakistani second seed Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in the $25,000 ATP Challenger in Manchester, England, today.

Keeping himself in line for a double, Bopanna, along with Qureshi reached the double final after beating Australia’s Andrew Coelho and Adam Feeney 6-4, 7-5.