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Journalism of Courage
Sania Mirza put up a brave effort but it was not enough as Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova won the battle of teenagers in the women’s singles second round match of the Wimbledon Tennis Championship here today. The 18-year-old Indian showed great fighting qualities before losing 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6 in 137 minutes.
First set
• Sania broke twice to lead 2-0, and 4-2, but was broken back.
• Lost the seventh game with a plethora of double faults.
• Broken again in the tenth game, to lose the set, 4-6.
Second set
• Broke twice early, to cruise to a 3-0 lead.
• After losing two games, held on to lead 4-2.
• At 5-3, lost three straight games to serve to stay in the match.
• Held on to her serve and won the tie-breaker at 4 to take the match into the decider.
Third set
• Broken in the third game, but broke right back to make it 2-2.
• Not finding serving rhythm and being broken twice more, seemed she would give up.
• Still broke Kuznetsova serving for match, and held on to her serve to make it 4-5.
• At break point, Kuznetsova came up with an unbelievable volley which, according to Sania, sealed the match.
Match facts
• Sania hit 35 winners to Kuznetsova’s 38.
• She had 37 unforced errors compared to Svetlana’s 30.
• Sania made 8 double faults and won only 23% of points on her second serve.
• She converted just 6 break point she availed.
