Error-prone Sania survives

Things changed, and changed dramatically as Sania’s first serve dipped to a lowly 44 per cent even as her inflated tally of 19 unforced errors spelt doom for her in the second set. She dropped serve in her first game and although the penultimate set lasted exactly the same duration like the first one — 42 minutes — the scoreline mentioned the 81st ranked player in the world was in absolute control of the set. Camerin won the second set 6-2 but it was more because she played her points correctly — if not powerfully — while Sania’s frustrations at her consistency in making silly mistakes with her volley grew. Her trademark backhand too didn’t stand with her as windy conditions made it increasingly difficult for the players to adjust their serve.

A change of T-shirt for her — she changed from a bright red to a more familiar white one — and an injury time-out from Camerin at the start of the third set changed the momentum. Despite dropping her serve once again in the second game of the final set, she came back on level breaking the Italian in the next. Lady luck finally smiled on the Hyderabad girl when the linesman ruled a close call in her favour that earned her three break points in the sixth game, a gift she readily accepted. Camerin showed no signs to hide her emotions and henceforth slowly moved out of the match.

Sania, for once, played the big points well only to drop her guard again as she allowed a final chance in the seventh game and not capitalising on a 40-0 lead before wasting two break points and place the match tantalisingly tilted on her side at 4-3.

Things were quickly back to 4-4 as Sania dropped serve but Camerin retuned the compliment to give Sania a 5-4 lead. That she put her hands up in appreciation when she eventually succeeded in smashing an overhead volley in the final set, it spoke volumes of her game. It was finally over when Camerin played a forehand long as Sania heaved a sigh of relief and blew flying kisses and duly obliged autograph hunters.