Sania-Bethanie duo in final

Indian goes down to top seed Chakvetadze in singles semi-final

Sania Mirza went down fighting against world number eight and top seed Anna Chakvetadze in the singles semi-final of the $175,000 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament here. The Indian, seeded third, pushed her more fancied Russian opponent to the limit but lost 2-6, 7-5, 3-6 in the WTA Tier III event.

However, it was a different story in the doubles as Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek, top seeded, came back from a disadvantage to advance to the final after pulling off 2-6, 6-3, 10-3 win against Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia and Ipek Senoglu of Turkey in the semi-finals. In the title clash, the Indo-US team will meet Russian Alina Jidkova and Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, who thrashed the third seeded Japanse pair of Morigami and Aiko Nakamura 6-2, 6-1.

In the singles, Sania, who played her fourth three-setter in as many matches, tried hard to keep herself in contention by pulling off the second set but Chakvetadze came back to race out to a 4-0 lead in the decider and eventually sealing the matter.

Bopanna-Qureshi pair clinches Manchester title

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New Delhi: Rohan Bopanna made ammends for his singles disappointment at the $25,000 ATP Challenger in Manchester, England by clinching the doubles crown with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan. Bopanna was upset 5-7, 4-6 by the eventual winner, unseeded Harel Levy from Israel, in the singles last-four clash yesterday.

In the doubles final, Bopanna and Qureshi came back from a set down to beat Jesse Huta Galung of the Netherlands and Swede Michael Ryderstedt 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.

Meanwhile, India’s Prakash Amritraj lost 5-7, 1-6 to American Donald Young in the semi-final of the $75,000 ATP Comerica Challenger in Aptos, California. Young will take on compatriot Bobby Reynolds in the final.