Lessons from the flushing meadows

NARESH KUMAR: The first serve
Missing the first serve always puts pressure on any player and Sania8217;s weak second means she has no fallback. The service makes up fifty per cent of one8217;s game. If the second serve is poor, you can8217;t do anything but stand and watch your opponent mercilessly belt it.

NANDAN BAL: The second serve
A second serve winning percentage of 25, compared to Sharapova8217;s 80, made it an uphill battle. You can get away with it with players ranked in the 45-70 range, but not a Top-5 player

ENRICO PIPERNO: The pace
She needs to find a suitable pace. It8217;s not wise to pitch your hitting abilities to a point where you cannot sustain it. It leads to unforced errors and upsets the consistency levels. One has to learn how to treat a difficult ball differently from the regular.