Sania one step away from Vancouver ITF title

Top seed Sania Mirza is just one step away from her second consecutive ITF singles title after the Indian tennis ace pipped local favourite Sharon Fichman to reach the final of the Odlum Brown VanOpen

Top seed Sania Mirza is just one step away from her second consecutive ITF singles title after the Indian tennis ace pipped local favourite Sharon Fichman to reach the final of the Odlum Brown VanOpen here.

Sania did not look at her best in the semifinal as the unheralded Canadian stretched her to three sets before the Indian eventually prevailed 6-7 (6),6-3,6-2. In the final,Sania takes on second seeded Canadian Stephanie Dubois,who will have the local crowd cheering for her. Stephanie edged out American qualifier Mashona Washington 6-2 4-6 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Sania’s only previous meeting with her dates back to the 2003 Canadian Open Junior Championship when Stephanie had the last laugh. Sania looked in ominous form as she raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set before Fichman caught up with her. Four close games then led to the tie-breaker and Sania once again squandered a 6-4 lead and conceded four straight points to drop the set.

Things looked rather bleak for Sania in the second set too as the Indian trailed 0-2 before she staged a remarkable comeback,winning six of the next seven games to win the set and force the decider. The third set was an intense affair with both players going neck-and-neck before Sania broke loose. She went on to win the last three games to wrap up the set and stay on course to add another title to the ITF Lexington Challenger crown she won late last month.

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