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Journalism of Courage
While Bangalore gaped at its first close sight of the powerful Sania Mirza groundstrokes, Martina Muller was left wishing for blinders to shut out the ferocity of the famed forehands. And as a result, Muller was simply out-hit 6-2, 6-2 in the first round tie against the Indian at the KSLTA here.
A distantly-ranked player (Muller’s 102 currently) gutting it out to merely crack into the top-100s doesn’t mellow the severity of Mirza’s hitting, neither does the occasion — only the opening round of a WTA home round. For Mirza’s fierce groundstrokes — she regaled today with the backhand down the line — carry with them the force of impact, that her reputation has only added to.
“When she hits those forehands in the correct spots, it is very hard because she strikes them very hard,” Muller said after her disappointing returns.
Mirza, still working on her highly speculated serve which is under gradual repair at Tony Roche’s workshop in Australia, shrugged off the initial unforced errors and went a break up as early as the third game of the first set. She forced another when Muller next served and sent a forehand return wide to go 5-2 up.
Mirza, forced to generate all the pace in the rallies since the German gathered little from her baseline game, pocketed the set in 24 minutes, after one such characteristic tame return from Muller found the net.
The Indian, now in her full stride, missed on two break-points at the beginning of the second set hitting a volley out with Muller at her mercy. But subsequent revisions and perfecting of the same charge on the net yielded her breaks in the third game, while the improved serve gave her the 5-1 lead, prompting the beginning of celebrations in the crowd.
“I’ve changed my serve technically, and now it’s a little slower, though it will take some time for everything to fall into place,” Mirza later explained of the corrections she has carried out.
Muller knows a thing or two about delaying an opponent’s win, if not quite denying it. The German who had saved nine match points in a marathon Fed Cup match earlier in her career, replied with her set of spunky returns to sneak in another game on serve and Mirza was forced to serve out the match when Muller after little resistance sailed a forehand long.
Earlier, Ankita Bhambri put on a spirited show, going down 7-5, 6-3 to Kaia Kanepi. Her performance, where she matched the Estonian shot for shot, ensured that the crowd didn’t grudge her the time she took up on Centre Court delaying Mirza’s impending match.
