145;Gritty146; Sania serves winner

She8217;s one gritty player with purpose. I8217;m impressed.8217;8217; That8217;s John Farrington8217;s views on Sania Mirza after wat...

She8217;s one gritty player with purpose. I8217;m impressed.8217;8217; That8217;s John Farrington8217;s views on Sania Mirza after watching his new ward win her first match under him on Tuesday. Playing in a Tier-III WTA event in Cincinnati, Sania handed No 7 seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld ranked 35th a 6-4, 6-3 defeat.

8216;8216;Sania had a solid match all round, she was dominant on court8217;8217;, Farrington told The Indian Express after his first-ever interaction with her. 8216;8216;She8217;s got a lot of potential.8217;8217;

He admitted that, when first offered the job, he8217;d barely heard of Sania, and so had little clue of who or what he was dealing with. 8216;8216;I was told about her by my good friend Mahesh Bhupathi, and I then did a bit of surfing on the net to find out more.8217;8217;

On Tuesday, it appears, his research was proved right. Farrington 38 singled out Sania8217;s returns, which were 8216;8216;great, cleanly hit8217;8217;, her 8216;8216;quite impressive8217;8217; court coverage and her aggression, which he says 8216;8216;makes all the difference8217;8217;.

8216;8216;Out there Sania was playing to win.8217;8217; That apart, Farrington added, 8216;8216;she did well moving her opponent around the court8217;8217;.

However, he sounded somewhat concerned about the unforced errors Sania committed. 8216;8216;It needs to be improved8217;8217;, he said.

He didn8217;t wish to elaborate on other areas that need improvement. 8216;8216;It8217;s not necessary to get into those details8217;8217;, he said. 8216;8216;We8217;ve been just one match together.8217;8217;

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He8217;s optimistic about this particular relationship. 8216;8216;We8217;ve begun on a winning note. You guys India will be seeing a lot of changes in Sania in future.8217;8217;

Sania is only the second WTA Tour player Bahamanian Farrington has coached, after Mary Jo Fernandes back in the 1980s.

For Sania the win was her second over Groenefeld, the last a three-set affair in 2004 during the Palm Beach Gardens event in the semis. Back then she was no 194 in the world, the German ranked 75.

The win thus took Sania to 14-9 W/L during the season and improved her hard-court record to 10-4. In her quest for her first Tier-III title, Sania, next runs into Kristina Brandi Puerto Rico ranked No 67 in the world in what is a battle of firsts.